On-board reagent storage and release by solvent-selective, rotationally opened membranes: a digital twin approach

Abstract

Decentralized bioanalytical testing in resource-poor settings ranks among the most common applications of microfluidic systems. The high operational autonomy in such point-of-care/point-of-use scenarios requires long-term onboard storage of liquid reagents, which also need to be safely contained during transport and handling, and then reliably released just prior to their introduction to an assay protocol. Over the recent decades, centrifugal microfluidic technologies have demonstrated the capability of integrated, automated and parallelized sample preparation and detection of bioanalytical protocols. This paper presents a novel technique for onboard storage of liquid reagents which can be issued by a rotational stimulus of the system-innate spindle motor, while still aligning with the conceptual simplicity of such “Lab-on-a-Disc” (LoaD) systems. In this work, this highly configurable reagent storage technology is captured by a digital twin, which permits complex performance analysis and algorithmic design optimization according to objectives as expressed by target metrics.