Summary: this project seeks a framework to architect emergent microfluidics by integrating modular flow modes into dynamic vortices using symmetry principles

The Department of the Interior Departmental Offices Interior Business Center awarded the University of California, Merced a $250,000 cooperative agreement on September 1, 2026, to develop a framework for architecting emergent microfluidics by integrating modular flow modes into dynamic vortices using symmetry principles under the Research and Technology Development program (CFDA 12.910).

The project addresses fundamental limitations in traditional microfluidic systems that rely on fixed channel geometries and complex mechanical components restricting each device to a single application. The research team will apply sequential combinations of curl-free flow modes to generate nontrivial, vortex-like circulating patterns in low-Reynolds-number flows, drawing on shared symmetry principles between electromagnetism and fluid dynamics. Success would enable real-time generation and reconfiguration of microfluidic patterns using only a small number of global control parameters, eliminating the need for complex mechanical components and accelerating development of adaptive, programmable lab-on-chip systems.

Performance occurs in California from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2028. The award is assistance to an educational institution for basic and applied research with potential dual-use application, evaluated on overall scientific and technical merit, potential contribution to DARPA mission, recipient capabilities, technology transition planning, and cost realism.

Intro/background: traditional microfluidic systems generate flow patterns using fixed channel geometries combined with valve or pump networks, restricting each device to a single, predefined application. Maintaining the mechanical integrity of these channels, pumps, and valves is both costly and technically challenging. Although dynamic flow patterns can be produced through pixelated actuations, such approaches are difficult to scale and demand complex, expensive control hardware. Customizing local flow fields with feedback mechanisms has been limited to manipulating small numbers of particles, as they rely on physical traps and position-based control without considering the global field. Eliminating these challenges thus requires a fundamentally distinct microfluidic principle. Impact: achieving dynamic vortices in microfluidics would redefine low-reynolds-number flows, as such structures are traditionally associated with inertial effects. Success in this effort would establish a new framework for generating and reconfiguring microfluidic patterns in real time using only a small number of global control parameters, eliminating the need for complex mechanical components. This capability would accelerate the development of adaptive and programmable lab-on-a-chip systems and provide the microfluidics community with a universal tool for exploring dynamic, self-organizing fluid phenomena. Methods/approach: analogous to electromagnetic duality, our preliminary experiments and simulations demonstrate that the sequential application of a series of curl-free flow modes can generate nontrivial, vortex-like circulating patterns even in the absence of fluid inertia. The shared symmetry principles between electromagnetism and fluid dynamics guide the design of time-dependent combinations of these flow modes to produce desired microfluidic patterns. To facilitate such modular vortices, we introduce a rotation mechanism: a spinning adapter links every channel port to alternating pressure sources. Alternatively, piezoelectric transducer actuation can be employed to achieve even faster transitions between modes and smoother flow speeds. By superimposing translational and extensional flow modes within the same platform, the resulting vortices can be dynamically shifted and deformed in real time, enabling sophisticated, programmable particle trajectories for transport and mixing. Unlike conventional pump-based systems, this approach provides effectively unlimited microfluidic pattern configurations, faster response times and requires no auxiliary reservoirs, valves, or pumps.