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Article

Target-Guided Droplet Routing on MEDA Biochips Considering Shape-Dependent Velocity Models and Droplet Splitting

1
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu 525-8577, Japan
2
WITZ Corporation, Nagoya 460-0004, Japan
3
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Osaka, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
4
College of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka 567-8570, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biosensors 2025, 15(8), 500; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15080500 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 18 June 2025 / Revised: 23 July 2025 / Accepted: 1 August 2025 / Published: 3 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers of Biosensors)

Abstract

In recent years, digital microfluidic biochips (DMFBs), based on microfluidic technology, have attracted attention as compact and flexible experimental devices. DMFBs are widely applied in biochemistry and medical fields, including point-of-care clinical diagnostics and PCR testing. Among them, micro electrode dot array (MEDA) biochips, composed of numerous microelectrodes, have overcome the limitations of conventional chips by enabling finer droplet manipulation and real-time sensing, thus significantly improving experimental efficiency. While various studies have been conducted to enhance the utilization of MEDA biochips, few have considered the shape-dependent velocity characteristics of droplets in routing. Moreover, methods that do take such characteristics into account often face significant challenges in solving time. This study proposes a fast droplet routing method for MEDA biochips that incorporates shape-dependent velocity characteristics by utilizing the distance information to the target cell. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves approximately a 67.5% reduction in solving time compared to existing methods, without compromising solution quality.
Keywords: digital microfluidics; biochips; MEDA; droplet routing; mathematical programming problem digital microfluidics; biochips; MEDA; droplet routing; mathematical programming problem

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Hamachiyo, Y.; Shiro, C.; Nishikawa, H.; Tomiyama, H.; Yamashita, S. Target-Guided Droplet Routing on MEDA Biochips Considering Shape-Dependent Velocity Models and Droplet Splitting. Biosensors 2025, 15, 500. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15080500

AMA Style

Hamachiyo Y, Shiro C, Nishikawa H, Tomiyama H, Yamashita S. Target-Guided Droplet Routing on MEDA Biochips Considering Shape-Dependent Velocity Models and Droplet Splitting. Biosensors. 2025; 15(8):500. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15080500

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hamachiyo, Yuta, Chiharu Shiro, Hiroki Nishikawa, Hiroyuki Tomiyama, and Shigeru Yamashita. 2025. "Target-Guided Droplet Routing on MEDA Biochips Considering Shape-Dependent Velocity Models and Droplet Splitting" Biosensors 15, no. 8: 500. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15080500

APA Style

Hamachiyo, Y., Shiro, C., Nishikawa, H., Tomiyama, H., & Yamashita, S. (2025). Target-Guided Droplet Routing on MEDA Biochips Considering Shape-Dependent Velocity Models and Droplet Splitting. Biosensors, 15(8), 500. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15080500

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