We present a smartphone-app platform for point-of-care testing of cTnI, which features the self-aligned on-chip focusing (SOF) lenses for enhancing the fluorescence intensity.

Highlights  A controllable gradient UV irradiation (CGUI) method for multi-regional selective modification of PMMA microfluidic device is demonstrated.  A series of quartz plates sputtered with different thickness of Cu are used to adjust the UV irradiation transmitted to the PMMA surface.  The-OH group and surface roughness of the PMMA surface are varied by using different Cu-sputtered quartz plates.  The proposed method is applied to a fully integrated Point-of-Care Test device for the detection of cTnI achieving a low lower detection limit of 85pg/ml.

We adopt cylindrical-coordinate FDTD algorithm to simulate and analyse a 0.4-m-long column configuration plasma antenna. FDTD method is useful for solving electromagnetic problems, especially when wave characteristics and plasma properties are self-consistently related to each other. Focus on the frequency from 75 MHz to 400 MHz, the input impedance and radiation efficiency of plasma antennas are computed. Numerical results show that, different from copper antenna, the characteristics of plasma antenna vary simultaneously with plasma frequency and collision frequency. The property can be used to construct dynamically reconBgurable antenna. The investigation is meaningful and instructional for the optimization of plasma antenna design.

A lab-on-a-chip system with Point-of-Care testing capability offers rapid and accurate diagnostic potential and is useful in resource-limited settings where biomedical equipment and skilled professionals are not readily available. However, a Point-of-Care testing system that simultaneously possesses all required features of multifunctional dispensing, on-demand release, robust operations, and capability for long-term reagent storage is still a major challenge. Here, we describe a film-lever actuated switch technology that can manipulate liquids in any direction, provide accurate and proportional release response to the applied pneumatic pressure, as well as sustain robustness during abrupt movements and vibrations. Based on the technology, we also describe development of a polymerase chain reaction system that integrates reagent introduction, mixing and reaction functions all in one process, which accomplishes “sample-in-answer-out” performance for all clinical nasal samples from 18 patients with Influenza and 18 individual controls, in good concordance of fluorescence intensity with standard polymerase chain reaction (Pearson coefficients > 0.9). The proposed platform promises robust automation of biomedical analysis, and thus can accelerate the commercialization of a range of Point-of-Care testing devices.

Ultrasonic bonding was widely used to seal polymer microfludic chips due to its high strength, low cost and good biocompatibility. However, in the process of ultrasonic bonding, the easy clogging of microchannels and the difficulty of controlling microchannel heights limit the use of ultrasonic bonding in mass fabrication. In this study, energy director's structure including director protrusion, bonding limited platform and bonding pool is designed and used. A self-balancing jig is designed to automatically adjust with the horn and produce an even bonding energy distribution. Ultrasonic bonding parameters including bonding pressure and bonding time are optimised. The tensile destruction test, leakage test and serum driving test are employed to measure the performance of the ultrasonic bonding chips. Results have shown that the energy director's structure and the self-balancing jig can obviously reduce the clogging of microchannels and improve the uniformity of microchannel heights. By using the optimised bonding parameters, the bonding strength has reached >2.5 Mpa, and channel leakage has not been observed under 0.7 MPa air pressure. The energy director's structure and the self-balancing jig presented here can provide an effective alternative for the mass ultrasonic bonding of microfluidic devices.