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Why is it So Hard to Move Your Assay to a Lab-on-a-Chip?

Tuesday, 3 October 2017 at 13:30

Add to Calendar ▼2017-10-03 13:30:002017-10-03 14:30:00Europe/LondonWhy is it So Hard to Move Your Assay to a Lab-on-a-Chip?SELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

The advantages of moving a diagnostic assay to a lab-on-a-chip device are by now quite well known, and have been demonstrated in an increasing number of successful products. The advantages include reduction in sample and reagent volumes, improved repeatability of fluid mixing and manipulation, and increased process integration leading to simplification of use. The commercial opportunity of delivering a diagnostic assay in a fully integrated consumable is also highly attractive. However, there are several important differences between operating an assay in a plate-based format where pipetting is usually used to run the assay, and operating in a microfluidic system with a combination of flow and static process steps. The first and most important decision to be made concerns the reporting system, the labels to be used for the assay, and their relation to the required limit of detection for the diagnostic. Label-free assays are attractive but require even greater control over background noise effects. They are usually influenced by the surrounding fluidic and mechanical environment so require greater engineering precision in the consumable component or the read-out instrumentation. Users often require long shelf-life for the diagnostics, preferably without cold storage. Selecting, qualifying and validating a reagent storage system, which may be wet or dry, is one of the time-consuming development steps. After 40 years of microfluidic development pretty well any well-defined technical problem will have a solution, but integrating all solutions into a cost-effective package remains a challenge. In this presentation we will discuss examples of detection methods, reagent integration, precise metering, efficient mixing, and reliable fluid control that make it possible to translate assays  onto a lab on a chip device.