An Efficient Cost Reduction Method By Reusing Intermediate Droplets in MEDA Biochips

One type of biochip being researched in the field of biochemistry is a Micro Electrode Dot Array (MEDA) biochip. In traditional biochips such as Digital Microfluidic Biochips (DMFBs), only 1:1 mixing of reagents is possible. However, when mixing reagents with MEDA, various ratios other than 1:1 can be performed. Division-by-Factor-Method for MEDA (DFMM) [6] is a method for generating droplets containing more than three types of reagents in MEDA biochips. However, DFMM does not consider reusing intermediate droplets when generating multiple target droplets. In this paper, we propose a method that reduces the number of reagent droplets required for mixing by reusing intermediate droplets. Experimental results confirm that the reuse of droplets can reduce the number of reagent droplets required for mixing.