Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections and pose a significant healthcare burden. The growing trend in antibiotic resistance makes it mandatory to develop diagnostic kits which allow not only the determination of a pathogen but also the antibiotic resistances. We have developed a microfluidic cartridge which takes a direct urine sample, extracts the DNA, performs an amplification using batch-PCR and flows the sample over a microarray which is printed into a microchannel for fluorescence detection. The cartridge is injection-molded out of COP and contains a set of two-component injection-molded rotary valves to switch between input and to isolate the PCR chamber during thermocycling. The hybridization probes were spotted directly onto a functionalized section of the outlet microchannel. We have been able to successfully perform PCR of E.coli in urine in this chip and perform a fluorescence detection of PCR products. An upgraded design of the cartridge contains the buffers and reagents in blisters stored on the chip.

Date Published: 13 March 2015
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 9320, Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XIII, 93200S (13 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2077644

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9320:
Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XIII
Bonnie L. Gray; Holger Becker, Editor(s)