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In this work we introduce a novel microfluidic enzyme linked immunoassays (ELISA) microplate as the next generation assay platform for unparalleled assay performances. A combination of microfluidic technology with standard SBS-configured 96-well microplate architecture, in the form of microfluidic microplate technology, allows for the improvement of ELISA workflows, conservation of samples and reagents, improved reaction kinetics, and the ability to improve the sensitivity of the assay by multiple analyte loading. This paper presents the design and characterization of the microfluidic microplate, and its application in ELISA.

In this work, we present novel self-aligning fluidic interconnection techniques with low dead volume and pressure drop for generic microfluidic systems and capillary electrophoresis chips. We have successfully designed, fabricated and characterized two self-aligning fluidic interconnection techniques in this work, both resulting in low dead volume and low pressure drop across the interconnects. The first technique is a serial assembly technique, in which each fluidic interconnect is assembled individually, exhibiting a pressure drop of 977 Pa (0.14 psi) at a flow rate of 100 µl min −1 . The second technique is a parallel assembly technique that is suitable for high-density interconnects with multi-stacked generic microfluidic systems, which has a pressure drop of 1024 Pa (0.15 psi) at a flow rate of 100 µl min −1 . Furthermore, the parallel assembly technique is ideally suited for plastic-based microfluidic systems. We have simulated the flow characteristics of these interconnection schemes and, based in part on the simulation results, we have designed the above interconnection schemes. We have also characterized these interconnects in terms of the physical robustness of the interconnection scheme. The serial interconnection scheme can theoretically withstand 2.6 MPa and the parallel interconnection scheme can withstand a theoretical maximum pressure of 6.6 MPa.

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In this work, we present a novel fixed-volume metering microdispenser module using the sPROMs (structurally programmable microfluidic systems) technology. We have designed, simulated, fabricated and characterized an array of microdispensers with volumes ranging from 50 nL [nanoliter] to 150 nL. We have characterized several key components of the microdispenser, such as passive microvalves and the air-driven liquid column splitting process, using extensive simulations. The fabricated devices show extremely good accuracy (99.2%) and repeatability characteristics. We also present a simple technique for unloading the sub-microL [microliter] volumes from the microfluidic chip for measurement purposes. The dispensers realized in this work have immediate applications as a key ingredient of the lab-on-a-chip device.