title: A self-contained fully-enclosed microfluidic cartridge for lab on a chip.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics, Singapore. leventy@ime.a-star.edu.sg
authors.forename: Levent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yobas
authors.forename: Lih Feng
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Cheow
authors.forename: Kum-Cheong
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Shien-Eit
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.forename: Eleana Kye-Zheng
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: William Cheng-Yong
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.forename: Hongmiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Siti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rafeah
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004247:DNA