Algorithms developed by a range of research groups aim to automate microfluidic lab-on-chip technologies that perform chemical identification and medical tests by shuffling nanoliters of samples and reagents around micron-sized channels. Besides shortening the time required to analyze such small sample sizes, automation enables many more lab tests to be performed on chip. The initial algorithms were hand-crafted for various lab-on-chip prototypes. But according to presentations at the International Symposium on Physical Design (ISPD), researchers have begun adapting EDA techniques to automate the design and operation of microfluidic labs-on-chip. Here the photo is of the world's first general purpose microfluidics chip from a Duke University spin-off, Advanced Liquid Logic Inc. (Research Triangle Park, N.C.) To make its GP microfluidics technology digital, Advanced Liquid Logic has standardized on a droplet size of 300 nanoliters, instead of piping continuous streams of fluids. I/O lines and reservoirs pump droplets onto and off of the microfluidic chips using electrical pulses, which move the droplets along channels segmented into slots just big enough for a single droplet. Under each slot is an electrode. By sequencing electrical pulses to the electrodes, electrical attraction and repulsion can be used to move the droplets one slot at a time.

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