A self-contained fully-enclosed microfluidic cartridge for lab on a chip.
We describe a self-contained fully-enclosed cartridge for lab-on-a-chip applications where sample and reagents can be applied sequentially as is performed in a heterogeneous immunoassay, or nucleic acid extraction. Both the self-contained and fully-enclosed features of the cartridge are sought to ensure its safe use in the field by unskilled staff. Simplicity in cartridge design and operation is obtained via adopting a valveless concept whereby reagents are stored and used in the form of liquid plugs isolated by air spacers around a fluidic loop. Functional components integrated in the loop include a microfluidic chip specific to the target application, a novel peristaltic pump to displace the liquid plugs, and a pair of removable tubing segments where one is used to introduce biological sample and while the other is to collect eluant. The novel pump is fabricated through soft-lithography technique and works by pinching a planar channel under stainless-steel ball bearings that have been magnetically loaded. The utility of the cartridge is demonstrated for automated extraction and purification of nucleic acids (DNA) from a cell lysate on a battery-operated portable system. The cartridge shown here can be further extended to sample-in-answer-out diagnostic tests.
Yobas
Levent
L
Institute of Microelectronics, Singapore. leventy@ime.a-star.edu.sg
Cheow
Lih Feng
LF
Tang
Kum-Cheong
KC
Yong
Shien-Eit
SE
Ong
Eleana Kye-Zheng
EK
Wong
Lionel
L
Teo
William Cheng-Yong
WC
Ji
Hongmiao
H
Rafeah
Siti
S
Yu
Chen
C
D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D004247:DNA