Abstract

Droplet-based Microfluidics Original Droplet-based Digital PCR Assays to Detect Circulating Biomarkers

Valérie Taly, CNRS Research Director, Group Leader and Professor, Université Paris Cité

Droplet-based microfluidics has led to the development of highly powerful systems that represent a new paradigm in High-Throughput Screening where individual assays are compartmentalized within microdroplet microreactors. The integration of such systems for series of complex individual operations on droplets has offered a solution to the necessary miniaturization and automation of individual biological assays. By combining a decrease of assay volume and an increase of throughput, this technology goes beyond the capacities of conventional screening systems. The presentation will aim at demonstrating through selected example, the great potential of this technology for biotechnology and cancer research. In particular, we will show how by combining microfluidic systems and clinical advances in molecular diagnostic we have developed an original method to perform millions of single molecule PCR in parallel to detect and quantify a minority of target sequences in complex mixture of nucleic acids with a sensitivity unreachable by conventional procedures. This presentation will both cover early developments of droplet-based digital PCR and more recent one dedicated to the highly sensitive multiplex detection of micro-RNA.