Active, Universal Particle Micromanipulators: CPUs for Microfluidics

Current designs for Lab-on-a-Chip applications consist of a variety of separate microfluidic chambers and channels for functions such as concentration, separation, reaction and mixing of bioparticles in liquids. Here we advance an alternative concept, named \textit{$\mu $f}CPU, the Microfluidic Central Processing Unit, where the key microfluidic operations are performed within a single enclosure, using software-based inputs rather than physical hardware changes, thus emulating the role of the Central Processing Unit in computers and cells in living organisms. We present an experimental embodiment of such a device and describe a variety of microfluidic manipulation tasks achieved in it by the use of a suite of electromotive and fluidic forces in a time-dependent way to produce on-demand functionality. We also discuss a new microfluidic devices architecture that utilizes \textit{$\mu $f}CPU as the basic processing unit and uses centralized pumping instead of integrated microfluidic pumps.