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Sun A, Vopařilová P, Liu X, Kou B, Řezníček T, Lednický T, Ni S, Kudr J, Zítka O, Fohlerová Z, Pajer P, Zhang H, Neužil P. An integrated microfluidic platform for nucleic acid testing. MICROSYSTEMS & NANOENGINEERING 2024; 10:66. [PMID: 38784376 PMCID: PMC11111744 DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00677-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
This study presents a rapid and versatile low-cost sample-to-answer system for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics. The system integrates the extraction and purification of nucleic acids, followed by amplification via either reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) or reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP). By meeting diverse diagnostic and reagent needs, the platform yields testing results that closely align with those of commercial RT-LAMP and RT‒qPCR systems. Notable advantages of our system include its speed and cost-effectiveness. The assay is completed within 28 min, including sample loading (5 min), ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction (3 min), and RT-LAMP (20 min). The cost of each assay is ≈ $9.5, and this pricing is competitive against that of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved commercial alternatives. Although some RNA loss during on-chip extraction is observed, the platform maintains a potential limit of detection lower than 297 copies. Portability makes the system particularly useful in environments where centralized laboratories are either unavailable or inconveniently located. Another key feature is the platform's versatility, allowing users to choose between RT‒qPCR or RT‒LAMP tests based on specific requirements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antao Sun
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Systems for Aerospace; School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072 P. R. China
| | - Petra Vopařilová
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Xiaocheng Liu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Systems for Aerospace; School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072 P. R. China
| | - Bingqian Kou
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Systems for Aerospace; School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072 P. R. China
| | - Tomáš Řezníček
- ITD Tech s.r.o, Osvoboditelů 1005, 735 81 Bohumín, Czech Republic
| | - Tomáš Lednický
- Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 123, Brno, 61200 Czech Republic
| | - Sheng Ni
- Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Jiří Kudr
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Ondřej Zítka
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Zdenka Fohlerová
- Department of Microelectronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Brno University of Technology, Technická 3058/10, Brno, 61600 Czech Republic
| | - Petr Pajer
- Military Health Institute, U Vojenské nemocnice 1200, 16200 Praha 6, Czech Republic
| | - Haoqing Zhang
- The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049 P. R. China
- Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049 P. R. China
| | - Pavel Neužil
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Systems for Aerospace; School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072 P. R. China
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Hengoju S, Shvydkiv O, Tovar M, Roth M, Rosenbaum MA. Advantages of optical fibers for facile and enhanced detection in droplet microfluidics. Biosens Bioelectron 2022; 200:113910. [PMID: 34974260 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2021.113910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Droplet microfluidics offers a unique opportunity for ultrahigh-throughput experimentation with minimal sample consumption and thus has obtained increasing attention, particularly for biological applications. Detection and measurements of analytes or biomarkers in tiny droplets are essential for proper analysis of biological and chemical assays like single-cell studies, cytometry, nucleic acid detection, protein quantification, environmental monitoring, drug discovery, and point-of-care diagnostics. Current detection setups widely use microscopes as a central device and other free-space optical components. However, microscopic setups are bulky, complicated, not flexible, and expensive. Furthermore, they require precise optical alignments, specialized optical and technical knowledge, and cumbersome maintenance. The establishment of efficient, simple, and cheap detection methods is one of the bottlenecks for adopting microfluidic strategies for diverse bioanalytical applications and widespread laboratory use. Together with great advances in optofluidic components, the integration of optical fibers as a light guiding medium into microfluidic chips has recently revolutionized analytical possibilities. Optical fibers embedded in a microfluidic platform provide a simpler, more flexible, lower-cost, and sensitive setup for the detection of several parameters from biological and chemical samples and enable widespread, hands-on application much beyond thriving point-of-care developments. In this review, we examine recent developments in droplet microfluidic systems using optical fiber as a light guiding medium, primarily focusing on different optical detection methods such as fluorescence, absorbance, light scattering, and Raman scattering and the potential applications in biochemistry and biotechnology that are and will be arising from this.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sundar Hengoju
- Bio Pilot Plant, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, 07745, Jena, Germany; Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Oksana Shvydkiv
- Bio Pilot Plant, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Miguel Tovar
- Bio Pilot Plant, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Martin Roth
- Bio Pilot Plant, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Miriam A Rosenbaum
- Bio Pilot Plant, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, 07745, Jena, Germany; Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University, 07743, Jena, Germany.
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Konoplev G, Agafonova D, Bakhchova L, Mukhin N, Kurachkina M, Schmidt MP, Verlov N, Sidorov A, Oseev A, Stepanova O, Kozyrev A, Dmitriev A, Hirsch S. Label-Free Physical Techniques and Methodologies for Proteins Detection in Microfluidic Biosensor Structures. Biomedicines 2022; 10:207. [PMID: 35203416 PMCID: PMC8868674 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10020207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2021] [Revised: 01/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Proteins in biological fluids (blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid) are important biomarkers of various pathological conditions. Protein biomarkers detection and quantification have been proven to be an indispensable diagnostic tool in clinical practice. There is a growing tendency towards using portable diagnostic biosensor devices for point-of-care (POC) analysis based on microfluidic technology as an alternative to conventional laboratory protein assays. In contrast to universally accepted analytical methods involving protein labeling, label-free approaches often allow the development of biosensors with minimal requirements for sample preparation by omitting expensive labelling reagents. The aim of the present work is to review the variety of physical label-free techniques of protein detection and characterization which are suitable for application in micro-fluidic structures and analyze the technological and material aspects of label-free biosensors that implement these methods. The most widely used optical and impedance spectroscopy techniques: absorption, fluorescence, surface plasmon resonance, Raman scattering, and interferometry, as well as new trends in photonics are reviewed. The challenges of materials selection, surfaces tailoring in microfluidic structures, and enhancement of the sensitivity and miniaturization of biosensor systems are discussed. The review provides an overview for current advances and future trends in microfluidics integrated technologies for label-free protein biomarkers detection and discusses existing challenges and a way towards novel solutions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgii Konoplev
- Faculty of Electronics, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, 197376 Saint Petersburg, Russia; (D.A.); (A.S.); (O.S.); (A.K.)
| | - Darina Agafonova
- Faculty of Electronics, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, 197376 Saint Petersburg, Russia; (D.A.); (A.S.); (O.S.); (A.K.)
| | - Liubov Bakhchova
- Institute for Automation Technology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany;
| | - Nikolay Mukhin
- Faculty of Electronics, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, 197376 Saint Petersburg, Russia; (D.A.); (A.S.); (O.S.); (A.K.)
- Department of Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Brandenburg, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; (M.K.); (S.H.)
| | - Marharyta Kurachkina
- Department of Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Brandenburg, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; (M.K.); (S.H.)
| | - Marc-Peter Schmidt
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany;
| | - Nikolay Verlov
- Molecular and Radiation Biophysics Division, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute Named by B.P. Konstantinov, National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, 188300 Gatchina, Russia;
| | - Alexander Sidorov
- Faculty of Electronics, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, 197376 Saint Petersburg, Russia; (D.A.); (A.S.); (O.S.); (A.K.)
- Fuculty of Photonics, ITMO University, 197101 Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Aleksandr Oseev
- FEMTO-ST Institute, CNRS UMR-6174, University Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 25000 Besançon, France;
| | - Oksana Stepanova
- Faculty of Electronics, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, 197376 Saint Petersburg, Russia; (D.A.); (A.S.); (O.S.); (A.K.)
| | - Andrey Kozyrev
- Faculty of Electronics, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, 197376 Saint Petersburg, Russia; (D.A.); (A.S.); (O.S.); (A.K.)
| | - Alexander Dmitriev
- Department of Ecological Physiology, Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Institute of Experimental Medicine” (FSBSI “IEM”), 197376 Saint Petersburg, Russia;
| | - Soeren Hirsch
- Department of Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Brandenburg, 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany; (M.K.); (S.H.)
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Zhang H, Gaňová M, Yan Z, Chang H, Neužil P. PCR Multiplexing Based on a Single Fluorescent Channel Using Dynamic Melting Curve Analysis. ACS OMEGA 2020; 5:30267-30273. [PMID: 33251461 PMCID: PMC7689941 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c04766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Since its invention in 1986, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), has become a well-established method for the detection and amplification of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with a specific sequence. Incorporating fluorescent probes, known as TaqMan probes, or DNA intercalating dyes, such as SYBR Green, into the PCR mixture allows real-time monitoring of the reaction progress and extraction of quantitative information. Previously reported real-time PCR product detection using intercalating dyes required melting curve analysis (MCA) to be performed following thermal cycling. Here, we propose a technique to perform dynamic MCA during each thermal cycle, based on a continuous fluorescence monitoring method, providing qualitative and quantitative sample information. We applied the proposed method in multiplexing detection of hepatitis B virus DNA and complementary DNA of human immunodeficiency virus as well as glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase in different concentration ratios. We extracted the DNA melting curve and its derivative from each PCR cycle during the transition from the elongation to the denaturation temperature with a set heating rate of 0.8 K·s-1and then used the data to construct individual PCR amplification curves for each gene to determine the initial concentration of DNA in the sample. Our proposed method allows researchers to look inside the PCR in each thermal cycle, determining the PCR product specificity in real time instead of waiting until the end of the PCR. Additionally, the slow transition rate from elongation to denaturation provides a dynamic multiplexing assay, allowing the detection of at least three genes in real time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoqing Zhang
- Ministry
of Education Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Department
of Microsystem Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, P. R. China
| | - Martina Gaňová
- Ministry
of Education Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Department
of Microsystem Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, P. R. China
- Central
European Institute of Technology, Brno University
of Technology, Purkyňova 123, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - ZhiQiang Yan
- Ministry
of Education Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Department
of Microsystem Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, P. R. China
| | - Honglong Chang
- Ministry
of Education Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Department
of Microsystem Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, P. R. China
| | - Pavel Neužil
- Ministry
of Education Key Laboratory of Micro/Nano Systems for Aerospace, Department
of Microsystem Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, P. R. China
- Central
European Institute of Technology, Brno University
of Technology, Purkyňova 123, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
- Department
of Microelectronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Brno University of Technology, Technická 3058/10, 616 00 Brno, Czech Republic
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