Division of Nanobiotechnology, Department of Protein Sciences, Science for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 17165, Sweden.
School of Engineering Sciences, Mechanics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, SE-10044, Sweden.
Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 14;10(1):189. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-08091-z.
The success of lab-on-a-chip systems may depend on a low-cost device that incorporates on-chip storage and fluidic operations. To date many different methods have been developed that cope separately with on-chip storage and fluidic operations e.g., hydrophobic and capillary valves pneumatic pumping and blister storage packages. The blister packages seem difficult to miniaturize and none of the existing liquid handling techniques despite their variety are capable of proportional repeatable dispensing. We report here on an inexpensive robust and scalable micro-dispenser that incorporates long-term storage and aliquoting of reagents on different microfluidics platforms. It provides long-term shelf-life for different liquids enables precise dispensing on lab-on-a-disc platforms and less accurate but proportional dispensing when operated by finger pressure. Based on this technology we introduce a method for automation of blood plasma separation and multi-step bioassay procedures. This micro-dispenser intends to facilitate affordable portable diagnostic devices and accelerate the commercialization of lab-on-a-chip devices.
微流控芯片系统的成功可能取决于一种低成本的设备，该设备将片上存储和流控操作结合在一起。迄今为止，已经开发出许多不同的方法来分别处理片上存储和流控操作，例如疏水和毛细管阀、气动泵和泡罩存储套件。泡罩包装似乎难以小型化，而且尽管现有的液体处理技术种类繁多，但都无法进行比例重复分配。我们在这里报告了一种廉价、稳健且可扩展的微分配器，该分配器将试剂的长期存储和等分与不同的微流控平台结合在一起。它为不同的液体提供了长期的保质期，使其能够在盘上实验室平台上进行精确分配，并且在通过手指压力操作时能够进行不太精确但成比例的分配。基于这项技术，我们引入了一种用于自动化血浆分离和多步生物测定程序的方法。这种微分配器旨在促进价格实惠的便携式诊断设备的发展，并加速片上实验室设备的商业化。
