Portable Systems for Point-of-Care Diagnostics
Pavel Neužil,
Professor,
Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, P.R.
I will present a development of a miniaturized system to perform real-time PCR for point-of-care diagnostic applications. It started about 10 years ago in A*STAR Singapore with a simple device to perform cheap PCR using micromachined silicon heater with sample placed on a disposable glass slide. The fluorescence monitoring system was external. We were able to perform 40 PCR cycles in less than 6 minutes. The fluorescence system was later on integrated into the device of “Generation I” making it very compact. We extended the system into a universal Lab-on-a-Chip system or “Generation II” taking advantage of electronics for Fluorescence signal processing. We developed a portable, battery-operated, application-specific lab-on-a-chip (ASLOC) system that can be easily configured for a wide range of Lab-on-a-Chip applications. The complete system is controlled by a single chip and the collected information is stored in situ, with the option to transfer the data to an external display using an USB interface. In addition to providing a framework for truly portable real-life developments of LOC systems, we envisage that this system can be used for educational purposes.
Finally we developed a world smallest and cheapest real-time PCR system based on the same basic platform. It can detect fours samples a time, positive and negative control and two samples. During my talk I will show our results to detect cDNA of Avian Influenza virus or RNA of Ebola virus. With its size smaller than a smart phone, weight below 100 gr, it is perfect candidate for point-of-care applications.
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