AutoCAD Add-on for Simplified Design of Microfluidic Devices

Abstract

The development of polydimethylsiloxane-based microfluidic devices with integrated controlling components has led to the translation of many bench-top biological processes to microdevice platforms. While many biomedical scientists recognize the applicability of microdevices to their research, their lack of engineering background and training in computer-aided design (CAD) makes them unable to design the desired microchips using AutoCAD software, which is the universal first step for chip fabrication. In this work, we used the .NET platform to develop a user-friendly AutoCAD add-on feature that includes the ability to create channels, loops, valves, and punches, as well as channel to loop connections, valve to channel connections, valve to loop connections, channel to channel connections, and punch to channel connections. This add-on feature greatly simplifies the process of AutoCAD drawing, which allows people not familiar with AutoCAD to easily learn to use the add-on. For testing purposes, we used the add-on to draw a series of two-layer microchips designed to synthesize luciferase using a coupled transcription-translation system with different capacities. The AutoCAD files for the microfluidic designs were then sent to the Stanford Microfluidics Foundry for chip fabrication. Our results show that the quantity of luciferase produced on the chip is proportional to the capacity of the reaction loop.