MOV Valves and Pumps

Microscale on-chip valves (MOV™) have proven to be an elegantly simple way to create micro-valves, pumps and routers. By utilizing MOV technology, complex workflows can be miniaturized, automated, and integrated onto microchips. This enabling technology is proprietary and covered by exclusive licenses from U.C. Berkeley and intellectual property developed at the company. What makes this technology so revolutionary is not only the improved capabilities for mixing and moving minute volumes of liquids around a glass chip accurately, efficiently, and with extremely small dead volumes (10 nL), but the exquisitely simple process by which it performs these functions.

How it Works

MOV valves and pumps are prepared by placing a flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane between etched glass layers. The bottom etched glass layer is connected to an external conventional-scale pneumatics system controlled by Apollo Operating Software. When a vacuum is applied to the pneumatic displacement chamber, the normally closed PDMS membrane deflects from the valve seat and the valve opens.

MOV routers are made by coordinating the operation of three or more valves to create flow in any desired direction through pressure changes similar to a diaphragm pump. Flow rates can be controlled dependent on valve design and the rate of actuation. These flows range from 20 nL to 1 µL per stroke, offering a wide range of choices for the creation of different on-chip applications and microfluidic circuits. 

Mixing Liquids on Chips

Finding a viable solution for mixing reagents at microliter and sub-microliter scale has been a holy grail in the field of microfluidics. A shortcoming of microfluidic chip technology has been the inability to mix fluids on chips efficiently. The dimensions of typical microfluidic channels produce conditions that lead to laminar, not turbulent, flow of liquids. Typical microfluidic chips must rely upon diffusion to mix—which is very inefficient for large molecules. Microchip Biotechnologies takes a very different approach to mixing fluids on chip. The MOV mixers can be programmed to produce small, interspersed plugs of different materials, including microbeads, which are then efficiently mixed by passage through a valve and by invective mixing as the surfaces of the channels retard the outer portions of the plug and create an internal flow (Patent Pending).

	Patent Pending

Simple Manufacturing Process

MOV valves, pumps, and routers are durable, fabricated at low cost, can operate in dense arrays, and feature intrinsically low dead volumes. Arrays of MOV valves, pumps, and routers are readily fabricated on microchips using a single sheet of PDMS membrane. The cost to manufacture five MOV micropumps is nearly the same as the cost to produce 500 micropumps. This innovative technology enables Microchip Biotechnologies to create complex micro- and nanofluidic circuits on chips. Even a complex design of components and channels consumes no more space than a standard business card.

Customer Benefits

Smaller footprint: Current technologies take up a large amount of precious laboratory space. MOV technology miniaturizes sample preparation and will eventually integrate sample preparation and analysis into small footprint ‘sample-to-answer’ devices for both laboratory use and in the future in portable instruments for use in field-based applications.

	Better data: Automation on microchips is inherent. This eliminates the possibility of human error once the process is ‘on-chip’. It also frees up precious human talent for added value and less onerous tasks.
	Reduced reagent use and cost: Reaction volumes are performed on chip at microliter and sub-microliter scales which can dramatically reduce the use of expensive reagents or precious samples.
	Choice: Often researchers are stuck between choosing to invest in expensive, high-end automation and integration into laboratory procedures or stick with existing manual methods. MOV technology will provide automation options not available today and offer the research new options for improving the efficiency of life science applications.

Early structures at MBI

MOV valves, pumps, and routers can be configured to create programmable microfluidic circuits on microchips. Early structures used in MBI’s prototype devices include routers and capture of paramagnetic beads in star chambers.

Recent structures at MBI

The MOV technology has evolved from the original research started at UC Berkeley, to a platform that is designed for commercial product release. The recent design of these structures allows for more efficient use of space and easier part fabrication. The MOV Reagent Rail system allows for fine metering of reagents and is expandable for more complex reactions and multistep processes. Valves fabricated without valve seats for capture and concentration of sample with use of paramagnetic beads make this process possible in a much smaller space.