title: A droplet-based, optofluidic device for high-throughput, quantitative bioanalysis.
abstract: Analysis of chemical or biomolecular contents in a tiny amount of specimen presents a significant challenge in many biochemical studies and diagnostic applications. In this work, we present a single-layer, optofluidic device for real-time, high-throughput, quantitative analysis of droplet contents. Our device integrates an optical fiber-based, on-chip detection unit with a droplet-based microfluidic unit. It can quantitatively analyze the contents of individual droplets in real-time. It also achieves a detection throughput of 2000 droplets per second, a detection limit of 20 nM, and an excellent reproducibility in its detection results. In a proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate that our device can be used to perform detection of DNA and its mutations by monitoring the fluorescent signal changes of the target DNA/molecular beacon complex in single droplets. Our approach can be immediately extended to a real-time, high-throughput detection of other biomolecules (such as proteins and viruses) in droplets. With its advantages in throughput, functionality, cost, size, and reliability, the droplet-based optofluidic device presented here can be a valuable tool for many medical diagnostic applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Michael Ian
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Lapsley
authors.forename: Ahmad Ahsan
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Nawaz
authors.forename: Yanhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Sz-Chin Steven
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yuchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shikuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xing-Zhong
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Tony Jun
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods