We present the development of an automated centrifugal microfluidic platform with integrated sample pre-treatment (filtration and liquid-liquid extraction) and detection (SERS-based sensing). The platform consists of eight calibration and four assay modules, fabricated with polypropylene using injection molding and bonded with ultrasonic welding. The platform was used for detection of a secondary bacterial metabolite (p-coumaric acid) from bacterial supernatant. The obtained extraction efficiency was comparable to values obtained in batch experiments and the SERS-based sensing showed a good correlation with HPLC analysis.

Pathogenic bacterial biofilms can be life threatening, greatly decrease patients' quality of life and are a substantial burden on the healthcare system. Current methods for evaluation of antibacterial treatments in clinics and in vitro systems used in drug development and screening either do not facilitate biofilm formation or are cumbersome to operate, need large reagent volumes and are costly, limiting their usability. To address these issues, this work presents the development of a robust in vitro cell culture platform compatible with confocal microscopy. The platform shaped as a compact disc, facilitates long-term bacterial culture without external pumps and tubing and can be operated for several days without additional liquid handling. As an example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm is grown from single cells and it is shown that: 1) the platform delivers reproducible and reliable results; 2) growth is dependent on flow rate and growth medium composition; and 3) efficacy of antibiotic treatment depends on the formed biofilm. This platform enables biofilm growth, quantification and treatment as in a conventional flow setup, while decreasing the application barrier of lab-on-chip systems. It provides an easy-to-use, affordable option for end users working with cell culturing in relation to e.g. diagnostics and drug screening.

Bacterial biofilm‐related infections are difficult to eradicate and require repeated treatments with high doses of antibiotics. Thus, there is an urgent need for new treatment strategies that minimize the use of antibiotics while enhancing biofilm eradication. Functionalized reservoir‐based microdevices, such as, microcontainers (MCs), offer, high drug loading capacity, mucus embedment, and tuneable drug release. Here, MCs are loaded with the antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP), and sealed with a lid consisting of chitosan (CHI) and a mucolytic agent, N‐acetylcysteine (NAC). It is found that CHI and NAC work synergistically, showing improved mucoadhesive and mucolytic properties. To better mimic the in vivo habitat of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), the biofilm is grown in a mucin‐containing medium on a newly developed centrifugal microfluidic system. The CHI/NAC coated MCs improve eradication of biofilm (88.22 ± 2.89%) compared to CHI‐coated MCs (72.68 ± 3.73%) or bolus injection (39.86 ± 13.28%). The findings suggest that MCs are significantly more efficient than a bolus treatment. Furthermore, CHI/NAC functionalized MCs kill most of the biomass already after 5 h (80.75 ± 3.50%), mainly due to a fast drug release. This is the first time that CHI/NAC has been combined as a coating to explore mucolytic properties on bacterial biofilms.

In vitro, cell-based assays are essential in diagnostics and drug development. There are ongoing efforts to establish new technologies that enable real-time detection of cell-drug interaction during culture under flow...