Abstract
Electrowetting on dielectric-based digital microfluidic platforms (EWOD-DMF) have a potential to impact point-of-care diagnostics. Conventionally, EWOD-DMF platforms are manufactured in cleanrooms by expert technicians using costly and time consuming micro-nanofabrication processes such as optical lithography, depositions and etching. However, such high-end microfabrication facilities are extremely challenging to establish in resource-poor and low-income countries, due to their high capital investment and operating costs. This makes the fabrication of EWOD-DMF platforms extremely challenging in low-income countries, where such platforms are most needed for many applications such as point-of-care testing applications. To address this challenge, we present a low-cost and simple fabrication procedure for EWOD-DMF electrode arrays, which can be performed anywhere with a commercial office inkjet printer without the need of expensive cleanroom facilities. We demonstrate the utility of our platform to move and mix droplets of different reagents and physiologically conductive buffers, thereby showing its capability to potentially perform a variety of biochemical assays. By combining our low-cost, inkjet-printed EWOD-DMF platform with smartphone imaging technology and a compact control system for droplet manipulation, we also demonstrate a portable and hand-held device which can be programmed to potentially perform a variety of biochemical assays.
Highlights
The need for automated, high throughput, and reduced cost biochemical analytical techniques has driven the miniaturization of many conventional assays [1,2]
Miniaturized platforms based on electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD)-digital microfluidics (DMF) for biochemical assays should operate with fast droplet response times, minimum sample volumes, low power supply and a range of different sample solutions
We droplet (40,000 beads/μL) on the rightmost electrode (Figure 5e) and moved the previously generated diluted bead droplet towards the concentrated bead droplet where it was mixed. This resulted in a droplet with a new concentration of 16,000 beads μL (Figure 5f–g). These results demonstrated the utility of our flexible inkjet-nanoparticle-printed (FINP)-DMF platform to move and mix droplets of different content concentrations
Summary
The need for automated, high throughput, and reduced cost biochemical analytical techniques has driven the miniaturization of many conventional assays [1,2] The downsizing of these analytical methods has tremendously benefitted from the low sample volume requirement, improved sensitivity and selectivity of microsensors, reduced turnover times, enabled parallel analyses and batch manufacturing processes. While conventional diagnostic assays usually require milliliters or hundreds of microliters of reagents [1,3], reagent consumptions are lowered by a factor of 103 –104 for miniaturized diagnostic assays. Thereby, this has resulted in dramatic savings for repetitive tests that are performed in clinical diagnostic laboratories [1]. Conventional blood analysis requires 0.5 to 2.5 mL per test, and several days of testing can lead to blood loss exceeding the circulating blood volume in ELBW
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