Sample Acquisition and Control On-Chip Microfluidic Sample Preparation

Abstract

Microfluidic flow conditions allow the design of highly effective, yet simple devices for on-chip sample preparation and cleanup. Over the past few years, Micronics has developed a number of novel microfluidic structures that are compatible with complex samples such as whole blood or contaminated environmental fluids. The H-Filter is a technology based on the parallel laminar flow of two or more miscible streams in contact with each other. Such streams do not mix, but chemicals contained in these streams can diffuse from one stream into the other, with smaller molecules diffusing faster than larger ones. This principle can be used, for example, to remove salt from a solution containing DNA, or to extract smaller molecules from whole blood. The T-Sensor is based on the same laminar flow diffusion principle, but combines sample preparation with self-calibration and detection. These devices can be used not only in stand-alone research and point-of-use testing applications, but they can also be integrated, as sample preparation modules, into existing laboratory systems.