Point-of-Care & Rapid Diagnostics 2022 Agenda

Networking Luncheon in the Exhibit Hall -- Network with the Exhibitors, View Posters and Engage with Colleagues

A Novel Method for High Throughput Lyobead Formation in Diagnostic Kit Manufacturing
Rob Rich, Director of Sales, North America (West), BioDot, Inc.

Lyophilization and lyophilized products have been a foundational aspect of diagnostic kit manufacturing for decades. While cake lyophilization can address product stability, cold chain management, and material shipping weight issues, the formulation and formation of individual lyophilized beads offer developers and manufacturers with new dimensions in dose management, precision, and flexibility. Effectiveness and yields in lyobead formation are driven by volume precision and consistency in morphology. The BioJet™ dispensing technology from BioDot™ addresses each these critical aspects of lyobead production, all at high throughput. We will discuss the data and technology behind this novel approach.

Crystal Clear in Brilliant Shape – New Area in Glass Microfluidics
Claudia Gärtner, CEO, microfluidic ChipShop GmbH

A cooperation between Glassomer and microfluidic ChipShop.

Precise Contactless Spotting for Lab-on-Chip Applications
Wilhelm Meyer, Managing Director, Microdrop Technologies GmbH

Lab-on-chip devices are used for a wide variety of health care applications, especially in the area of point-of-care diagnostics. These small microfluidic devices equipped with microchannels, chambers and other features carry out diagnostic tests by enabling reactions between patient samples and reagents. The devices deliver test results with very small sample volumes and in a short period of time. For production of lab-on-chip devices a precise and fast material deposition method is needed. Typically, the devices are produced at high numbers under high throughput conditions. The substrates may be made of different materials e.g. polystyrene or silicone, but in common is that these substrates typically have a structured surface which may consist of channels, mixing chambers or even wells which are used for precise detection. Also, different coating materials are used as pretreatment for better adhesion of reagents or confinement of fluids. Deposition or Spotting of reagents onto the chip is a demanding task and requires the filling of small cavities and microchannels with a high accuracy. This can efficiently be done with a microspotting platform based on in inkjet technology. The flexibility of this technology allows for custom-made solutions adapted to the specific customer needs. Especially how high accuracy concerning volume of spotted reagents and also precision of placement is achieved under high throughput production conditions is demonstrated by examples. Beside aqueous reagents (e.g. DNA- or protein solutions), Hydrogels and Cell suspensions are coming come more into focus as a material for the construction of organoids and similarly complex structures. The printing of Matrigels is explained with an example here.

Laplace Pressure Tuned Liquid-Metal Non-Spherical Micro-Droplet (Plug) Generator
Sagar Bhagwat, Research Fellow, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), Germany

Gallium-based liquid metal non-spherical droplets (plugs) are fascinating materials owing to their exceptionally high surface tension (~600-700 mN m-1), low viscosity (twice that of water), negligible vapor pressure and high electrical conductivity (~3.4 × 106 S m-1), and have seen applications in microfluidics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), micro-actuators, switches, valves, radio-frequency and reconfigurable devices, and sensor technology. Typically, flow-focusing devices or manual injection inside narrow channels are the techniques used to generate liquid metal plugs. However, plug size control and reproducibility of the plugs is a major challenge hampering the use of such plugs. We developed a plug generator with a channel which includes chambers and constrictions that are optimally designed by tuning their respective Laplace pressures. We show that by having a chamber with lower Laplace pressure compared to a constriction exerting higher Laplace pressure, the liquid metal will be forced to fill the chamber than the constriction. We further presented liquid metal plugs of various aspect ratios for channel widths of 0.5, 0.8 and 1 mm with constriction width of 0.1 mm. This method allows control over liquid-metal plug size, reproducibility and provides a reliable way to generate plugs directly on-chip and on-demand for microfluidic applications.

Clarification of the Aerotaxis of Dictyostelium Discoideum in Microfluidic Device with Oxygen Controllability
Satomi Hirose, PhD Candidate and Researcher, Tohoku University, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Japan

The aerotactic migration of Dictyostelium discoideum, a typical model organism regarding eukaryotic cell motility, was revealed by using the newly developed microfluidic device with oxygen controllability.

A Barrier Tissue Model with an Ultrathin Nanoporous Membrane and Open-Well to Flow-Enhanced Reconfiguration Capability
Mehran Mansouri, Researcher, Rochester Institute of Technology, United States of America

Despite the fact that they are unable to introduce physiological fluid flows, conventional membrane-based approaches (e.g., Transwell inserts) remain the gold standard to create barrier tissue models. Here, a barrier tissue platform with a 100 nm thick nanoporous membrane was developed that features reconfiguration capability between static and flow-enhanced culture modes. This platform allows users to conduct experiments using standard open-well protocols, and then add microfluidic capabilities to the culture when desired. As a demonstration, an endothelial barrier was established in a standard open-well format and then reconfigured to the microfluidic mode to induce shear alignment of cells. The results show that 89±4.9 % of cells aligned in the direction of flow while cells in the static condition remained randomly orientated. After shear-induced alignment of cells, the platform was reconfigured to the open-well format for mRNA isolation. The flow-stimulated cells up-regulated the expression of the shear-sensitive transcription factor KLF2 and the downstream production of eNOS 6.7x and 3.4x, respectively. To highlight high-resolution live imaging and flow capabilities, the device was reconfigured into microfluidic mode and different steps of leukocytes transmigration in response to chemical gradient were visualized. This platform enables more widespread use of flow-enhanced barrier models in bioscience laboratories.

Cost-Efficient Optical-Electrical Nanobiosensors for Pandemics and More
Arben Merkoçi, ICREA Professor and Director of the Nanobioelectronics & Biosensors Group, Institut Català de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Spain

Health care system worldwide is facing several challenges. Aging of the population, chronic disease, spending on health and pandemics request a novel generation of diagnostics platforms. While conventional labs and their clinical analysis instruments are quite important given their sensitivity, information capability including their suitability for suitability for basic research they still suffer from issues such as their high costs, being time consuming, requesting sophisticated equipment, trained users, certain facilities etc. Point of care devices (POC) are a great alternative to face overall urgent needs but also for our everyday health care. The development of POCs is one of the most important R&D in the area of health diagnostics. There is a high demand to develop innovative and cost effective devices with interest for health care. These devices should be REASSURED: Real-time connectivity, Ease of specimen collection, Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User-friendly, Rapid, Robust, Equipment-free, Delivered to those who need it. The development of such devices is strongly related to new materials and technologies being nanomaterials and nanotechnology of special role. How to design simple plastic/paper-based biosensor architectures including wearables through printing or stamping? How to tune their analytical performance upon demand? How one can couple nanomaterials with paper/plastics and what is the benefit?   Which are the perspectives to link these simple platforms and detection technologies with mobile communication? I will try to give responses to these questions through various interesting with extreme interest for clinical emergency applications related to virus and other important biomarkers. These devices and corresponding technologies are related to ubiquitous methods that would be quite important for POC diagnostics related to pandemics and more.

Close of Conference Day