Microfluidic chain reaction of structurally programmed capillary flow events

Advancing pathogen detection for airborne diseases

“…Recently, self-powered or power-free microfluidic systems (actuated by, e.g., vacuum [35] , gravity [36] , and/or lateral flow [37] ) have been developed for detection independent of cumbersome peripherals. Recently, a monolithic chip utilizes microfluidic chain reactions powered by an on-chip paper pump to implement an eight-step ELISA protocol autonomously [38] , allowing quantitative detection of antibodies against the N protein of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva. In addition, heterogeneous sensing interfaces for different types of analytes can be integrated into a unified microarray, which enables “all-in-one” assays of multiple biomarkers including nucleic acids and proteins [ 19 , 39 ], holding promise for facile yet comprehensive diagnosis.…”

Merging microfluidics with luminescence immunoassays for urgent point-of-care diagnostics of COVID-19

“…So it is urgent to develop global wide POCTs targeting the COVID-19. Thankfully, scientists have made great efforts to develop practicable systems to get us through this mess [ 30 , 38 , 320 , 321 ]. At this stage, many immunoassays for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 can be broadly divided into two categories.…”

“…Towards this end, microfluidic chips could be a powerful tool to enable POC immunoassays [ [36] , [37] , [38] ]. In 1990, Manz et al firstly proposed the concept of micro total analysis systems, also latterly termed microfluidic chips or lab-on-a-chip [ 39 ].…”

Automated liquid-handling operations for robust, resilient, and efficient bio-based laboratory practices

“…It is important to consider that “Automated Liquid Handling” does provide a substantial number of articles that utilize a device that is able to move liquids between locations to some extent, but there are also some very niche applications where de novo construction of equipment was demonstrated, and the equipment was employed to conduct specific tasks. Such examples include the construction of open-source robots for liquid movement for microscopy applications[16], 3D printed robots for liquid manipulation and controlled using the Internet of Things[17, 18], or the application of liquid handling in microdevices[19, 20], as well as research that was not directly related to bioscience laboratories. Nevertheless, even this initial comparison based on the literature survey that was conducted, was sufficient to demonstrate that the utilisation of automation in biosciences is still at its infancy, with a huge potential as more research laboratories realise the evident advantages of working with such platforms.…”