title: Biosensing enhancement of dengue virus using microballoon mixers on centrifugal microfluidic platforms.
abstract: Dengue is the current leading cause of death among children in several Latin American and Asian countries. Due to poverty in areas where the disease is prevalent and the high cost of conventional diagnostic systems, low cost devices are needed to reduce the burden caused by dengue infection. Centrifugal microfluidic platforms are an alternative solution to reduce costs and increase the availability of a rapid diagnostic system. The rate of chemical reactions in such devices often depends on the efficiency of the mixing techniques employed in their microfluidic networks. This paper introduces a micromixer that operates by the expansion and contraction of a microballoon to produce a consistent periodical 3D reciprocating flow. We established that microballoons reduced mixing time of 12 μl liquids from 170 min, for diffusional mixing, to less than 23 s. We have also tested the effect of the microballoon mixers on the detection of the dengue virus. The results indicate that employing a microballoon mixer enhances the detection sensitivity of the dengue virus by nearly one order of magnitude compared to the conventional ELISA method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Center for Innovation in Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohammad Mahdi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Aeinehvand
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Center for Innovation in Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Fatimah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sulaiman Wadi
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Harun
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Djordjevic
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Center for Innovation in Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Hussin A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Rothan
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Rohana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yusof
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Center for Innovation in Medical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, 92697 Irvine, United States; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, 92697 Irvine, United States.
authors.forename: Marc J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Madou
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D003715:Dengue / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques
keywords: Centrifugal microfluidic platform; Dengue virus; ELISA; Latex microballoon; Micromixing