A spoonful of sugar helps control fluid flow
Many diagnostic assays require the addition of several solutions and washing steps in a precise sequence that is carried out by either a human or a machine. The use of microfluidics to miniaturise such assays is now common, but until now no simple method reported for automated sequential addition in paper devices has been reported. Paper microfluidic devices have a useful application in point-of-care diagnostics.
Scientists in the United States dried sugar solutions at different concentrations onto paper strips and showed that the sugar paper delayed the flow of fluid by minutes up to a whole hour. They designed a 2-dimensional branched paper network and applied different concentrations of sugar solution to each arm to create a device that allowed multiple fluids, which were applied to the device simultaneously, to be delivered sequentially to a detection zone. The scientists successfully applied this design to deliver a signal-amplified sandwich immunoassay for a malaria biomarker on paper.
Most read news
Original publication
Organizations
Other news from the department science
Get the life science industry in your inbox
By submitting this form you agree that LUMITOS AG will send you the newsletter(s) selected above by email. Your data will not be passed on to third parties. Your data will be stored and processed in accordance with our data protection regulations. LUMITOS may contact you by email for the purpose of advertising or market and opinion surveys. You can revoke your consent at any time without giving reasons to LUMITOS AG, Ernst-Augustin-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany or by e-mail at revoke@lumitos.com with effect for the future. In addition, each email contains a link to unsubscribe from the corresponding newsletter.