Liquid handling in 3D printed autonomous microfluidics

Promovendus/a: Clement Achille

Promotor(en): Prof. dr. ir. Rob Ameloot, Prof. dr. ir. Jeroen Lammertyn, Prof. dr. ir. Dirk De Vos

Recent and ongoing global health crises (Ebola, Zika, etc.) underline the need for rapid diagnostic testing in the field, near the site of the patient. As prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO), such point-Of-Care (POC) testing should offer rapid diagnosis at a low cost, be equipment-free to be performed in low-resource settings and require minimal user-dependent steps. Currently, the most successful POC test format is the lateral flow test, as used in pregnancy test kits. These tests are based on capillarity: liquid wicks through a porous membrane and results in the appearance in colored stripes that are easily read by the naked eye.

However, lateral flow tests are only available for one-step assays. In contrast, lab-based multistep assays that enable signal amplification and sensitive analyte quantification (e.g. ELISA), require a precise step sequence (adding additional reagents, precise incubation times, etc.) and external electrical equipment for sample handling and readout. Therefore, at this point, quantitative analyses in POC format are impossible

The goal of this project is to leverage expertise in surface chemistry and 3D printing to develop a radically new concept for multistep POC devices capable of chemical signal amplification.