Filtration and fl uid control Microfluidics enables multiplex PCR testing
One company in the UK has managed to integrate PCR and microfl uidics for rapid point-of-care diagnostics. Co-founded by Professor Christofer Toumazou – the inventor of semiconductor-based DNA sequencing – London-based DnaNudge uses a cartridge containing 72 microwells, all of which can be spotted with different analytes to conduct multiplex testing. Initially, the company used the gadget alongside its NudgeBox – a toaster-sized PCR analyser capable of thermocycling – to detect genes linked to common diseases so that the companies app-based software could ‘nudge’ customers towards nutritional choices that reduced their risk of developing them. Since then Toumazou’s technology has played a pivotal role in containing the spread of Covid-19 on hospital wards, simply by adding the same analytes used to test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a lab to the DnaNudge cartridge. Microfl uidics is at the heart of the process, because its what enables the mixing of swab samples and testing reagents to occur before the DNA is amplifi ed inside a microchamber, and throughout the duration of the pandemic, the company has used the multiplexing capability of its cartridges to test multiple patients at once as well as testing for other pneumonia-causing viruses, like infl uenza and RSV. All the steps required to do this, which in a traditional lab would be done by hand, can take place at the micro level because of processes developed over years of study in the fi eld of microfl uidics.
takes a long time for the doctors and hospitals to be convinced that they should implement something new here, and for the insurance companies to agree to pay the bill. Besides, the product quality needed is much higher.”
Ultra-Fine Resolution Proportional Isolation Valve ECLIPSE
For liquids & gases Leak free Excellent Linearity (<4% of full-scale) Fast Response (<2 ms reaction time) Cycle Life of Typically >1 million Repeatability: <0.5% of Full Travel Patented
Surmounting the obstacles An unlikely glimmer of hope came during the Covid-19 pandemic, when appetite for novel diagnostics was much greater. The microfluidics industry saw additional investments from governments and a surge of interest from venture capitalists, which went some way towards mitigating the supply chain challenges they faced. A number of companies developed microfluidic-based tests, designed to return accurate results within minutes. For instance, Californian start-up Fluxergy raised $30m in venture funding to scale up its lab-on-a-chip testing device, while LumiraDX has developed an antigen test that verifies infection at the point of care. Researchers at the University of Bath have designed a device called LoCKamp, based on a technology called LAMP, which takes just ten minutes to perform genetic testing on a sample.
CLIPPARD Europe S.A.
Tel.: +32 10 45 21 34 | Email:
info@clippard.eu Rue du Bosquet, 6 | B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
www.clippard.eu
“PCR is a relatively large platform, compared to microfluidic devices, and whether it can be miniaturised entirely is a good question,” says Gadegaard. “There’s something called LAMP which is very popular. It removes a lot of the technical hardware around the cycle of genomic amplification, and can be scaled down much more easily than PCR.” While cautioning that interest in Covid diagnostics won’t last forever, van Heeren describes the last couple of years as ‘a boon for the industry’. He thinks we might see a similar pattern with other diseases, in cases where microfluidic devices clearly outperform others on the market. That will be either in terms of the speed of returning results, or the ability to test for several parameters simultaneously. “Microfluidics-based sepsis testing is very much of interest, because you have to define the blood biomarkers very quickly if you want to save lives,” he says by way of example.
The injection moulding obstacle may be surmountable too. Rather than using traditional techniques like CNC milling,
76 Medical Device Developments /
www.nsmedicaldevices.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128
