MEAM Seminar: “Microfluidic Devices with Capillary Circuits for User-friendly, Low-cost, Multiplexed Point-of-care, Molecular Diagnostics”

Rapid, sensitive, and specific detection is key to personalized medicine and to the prompt implementation of appropriate mitigation measures to reduce disease transmission, mortality, morbidity, and cost. Conventional molecular detection methods require trained personnel and specialized laboratories, which limits their use to centralized laboratories. Microfluidics enables point-of-care testing.

In this talk, I will show how capillary circuits help automate liquid-distribution and sealing processes and eliminate the need for expensive equipment and highly skilled personnel. Next, I will present two examples of fully 3D-printed microfluidic devices with capillary valves that were designed, respectively, for single-stage and two-stage, multiplexed isothermal molecular detections of human, animal, and plant diseases.