Abstract

Real-Time Point-of-Care Diagnostics Using Microfluidic Sensors and Biosensors

Martyn Boutelle, Professor of Biomedical Sensors Engineering, Imperial College London

We are investigating technologies that take POC measurements from a moment in time that assists diagnosis to a continuous information stream that guides treatment dynamically. Biomarker molecule concentrations can give important information about the health of a person as they are dynamically challenged by acute illness or for example during clinical treatment. Such an approach would allow individualized treatments to be chosen and optimized. We have been developing a range of sensing and biosensing solutions for the invasive, minimally invasive, and non-invasive monitoring of people in healthcare situations. Microfluidics provide a valuable means of clinical sampling and robust quantification of measured signals.

I will describe the key challenges in the development of such integrated sensing devices and present our recent data obtained during models of cardiac arrest and from the neonatal intensive care unit.