title: Actuation of elastomeric microvalves in point-of-care settings using handheld, battery-powered instrumentation.
abstract: Although advanced fluid handling using elastomeric valves is useful for a variety of lab-on-a-chip procedures, their operation has traditionally relied on external laboratory infrastructure (such as gas tanks, computers, and ground electricity). This dependence has held back the use of elastomeric microvalves for point-of-care settings. Here, we demonstrate that microfabricated microvalves, via liquid-filled control channels, can be actuated using only a handheld instrument powered by a 9 V battery. This setup can achieve on-off fluid control with fast response times, coordinated switching of multiple valves, and operation of a biological assay. In the future, this technique may enable the widely used elastomeric microvalves (made by multilayer soft lithography) to be increasingly adopted for portable sensors and lab-on-a-chip systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, 351 Engineering Terrace, 1210 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Kweku A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Addae-Mensah
authors.forename: Yuk Kee
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fekete
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rendely
authors.forename: Samuel K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sia
mesh_terms: D003201:Computers; D020724:Elastomers; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004867:Equipment Design; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems
chemical_list: D020724:Elastomers; D008567:Membranes, Artificial