Microfluidic Systems Enable Faster, More Accurate Diagnostics
Microfabricated systems allow researchers to analyze biological and chemical samples on a very small scale. By integrating one or several laboratory functions on a single microchip no larger than a quarter, microfabricateds offers significant advantages over conventional instrumentation in terms of speed, cost and automaton. With continuous development, microfabricated technologies are poised to revolutionize clinical diagnostics and biomedical research.
Miniaturized Assays Yield Results Quickly
Microfabricated chips can perform complex biochemical analyses that normally require bulky and expensive benchtop equipment in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost. On a device the size of a postage stamp, researchers can analyze fluid volumes ranging from picoliters to nanoliters to complete operations like sample preparation, mixing, reaction and detection. This miniaturization allows assays that traditionally take hours or days to complete to be performed within minutes on a single microchip.
For example, a team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a microfabricated chip capable of detecting cancer biomarkers in blood within 30 minutes, compared to conventional methods that take days. Another study from the University of Toronto used a multiplexed microfabricated chip to detect seven foodborne pathogens simultaneously from a single food sample in under four hours. Such drastically reduced analysis times have significant implications for speeding up clinical diagnostics and biohazard detection.
Allows Automated, Point-of-Care Testing
Microfabricated lab-on-a-chip systems are also highly suited for developing automated, integrated devices for point-of-care testing outside traditional labs. By eliminating the need for bulky instruments and trained technicians, Microfluidic streamlines medical diagnostics so they can be conducted virtually anywhere with minimal user input.
Some examples include a microfabricated-based rapid influenza diagnostic approved by FDA that can produce results in 20 minutes from a nasal swab sample at a doctor's office. Researchers have also demonstrated fully self-contained microfabricated devices for rapid blood typing, glucose monitoring and detection of infectious agents directly from bodily fluids with little to no sample pretreatment. Several companies are now developing microfabricated diagnostic platforms for application in hospital emergency rooms as well as resource-limited communities worldwide.
Facilitates High-Throughput Screening
A major application of microfabricateds lies in conducting high-throughput screening for applications such as drug discovery, toxicity assessment and biomedical research. When coupled with automation technology, microfabricated chips allow researchers to assess thousands to millions of experimental conditions in parallel using minute quantities of precious samples and reagents.
For instance, a microfabricated system developed by researchers at Stanford University integrated 10,000 individual compound reactions on a single 1 cm2 chip, enabling screening of an entire chemical library in one day that would previously take months. In another example, scientists from University of Toronto evaluated 500 different cancer drug cocktails against a panel of 20 tumor cell lines simultaneously on a microfabricated chip, obtaining results faster than what would take a year using conventional multi-well plates under a microscope. Such high-throughput screening capabilities are helping accelerate assays for applications like toxicity profiling of new chemical entities.
Overcomes Challenges of Scale
While microfabricateds brings significant advantages, working at the microscale also introduces technical challenges that must be addressed. Some of the hurdles involved include precise control over small fluid volumes, efficient mixing at low Reynolds numbers, uniform heating and cooling of miniaturized reactions, and sensitive detection of minute analyte quantities.
Researchers worldwide are developing innovative solutions to overcome these issues. For example, new micropump and valve designs have enabled precise fluid routing and manipulation of nanoliter volumes. Methods involving acoustic, electrokinetic and magnetic forces are finding application for rapid mixing at the microscale. Integrated microheaters and thin-film sensors have improved thermal regulation and detection limits. Advanced microfabrication techniques further aid integration of complex fluidic networks and reaction chambers on a single chip.
With continued progress, many technical barriers of implementing microfabricated technology will be overcome. Widespread commercialization will depend on further driving down manufacturing costs while ensuring reliability over large production volumes. Standardization of chip designs, fabrication protocols and interface formats for diagnostics applications also requires refinement. But with the unlimited potential it offers, microfluidic is sure to proliferate in diverse fields like healthcare, pharmaceutical research and more in the coming years.
advances in microfabricateds are propelling a paradigm shift in laboratory testing. By shrinking experimentation down to the scale of droplets and nanoliters, microfabricated chips promise faster, more automated and high-throughput analysis that is revolutionizing clinical diagnostics, biomedical research and beyond. With ongoing efforts towards addressing scaling challenges, microfabricateds is poised for tremendous growth and realization of its highly promising capabilities for scientific discovery and healthcare diagnostics worldwide.
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