Multiplex digital microfluidics using serial controls and its applications in glucose sensing

Xinyu Liu; Jinying Cai; Wenjia Wang; Yujuan Chai

doi:10.1016/j.slast.2023.08.005

Multiplex digital microfluidics using serial controls and its applications in glucose sensing

SLAS Technol. 2024 Apr;29(2):100105. doi: 10.1016/j.slast.2023.08.005. Epub 2023 Aug 29.

Authors

Xinyu Liu¹, Jinying Cai¹, Wenjia Wang¹, Yujuan Chai²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory for Biomedical Measurements and Ultrasound Imaging, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory for Biomedical Measurements and Ultrasound Imaging, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China. Electronic address: chaiyj@szu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37652174
DOI: 10.1016/j.slast.2023.08.005

Abstract

Digital microfluidics (DMF) has found great applications in vitro diagnostics (IVD). Compared to the microfabrication-based DMF, printed circuit board (PCB)-based DMF is more economical and compatible with existing IVD instruments. Despite that, current PCB-based DMF is oftentimes limited by the available droplets that can be controlled simultaneously, compromising their throughput and applications as point-of-care tools. In this work, a platform that simultaneously controls multiple PCB-based DMF plates was constructed. The software and hardware were first developed, followed by the reliability tests. Colorimetric analysis of glucose was applied to the PCB-based DMF, demonstrating the capability of this platform. With the high throughput enabled by simultaneous operations of multiple plates, this PCB-based DMF can potentially allow point-of-care testing with low cost for resource-limited settings.

Keywords: Digital microfluidics; High throughput assay; Point-of-care testing; Printed circuit board.

MeSH terms

Microfluidics*
Point-of-Care Systems*
Point-of-Care Testing
Reproducibility of Results