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Microfluidics

....The goal of this group is to research a microfluidic system using the concept of membrane-movement to design and fabricate micro-pneumatic values and pumps to form a multiple bio-sensing diagnostic chip. The automatic bio-sampling system includes a micro-diagnostic chip fabricated by using MEMS (Micro-electro-mechanical-systems) technology and an automatic platform comprising of a control circuit, a compressed air source and several electromagnetic valve switches. The control circuit is used to regulate the electromagnetic valve switches, causing thin PDMS membranes to deflect pneumatically by the compressed air and generate valving and pumping effects.

....Quick diagnosis of pathogens has been a critical measure for the control of infectious diseases. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, commonly known as ELISA, is one of the most popular diagnostic methods among the existing immunological assays for disease detection due to its simplicity and high sensitivity. The micro-diagnostic chip allows for the quick detection of the following diseases: AIDS virus (HIV 1/2), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human T-cell lymphotrophic virus (HTLV), and syphilis.

....Compared to large-scale systems, the new microfluidic system uses smaller amounts of samples and reagents and performs fast diagnosis in an automated format. Instead of using traditional pneumatic micro-pumps, the current study adopts a new design called "spider-web" micro-pumps to increase the pumping rate, and more importantly, improve the uniformity of flow rates inside multiple micro-channels. Experimental data show that for multiple disease diagnosis, the multi bio-sensing chips integrated with the micro-pneumatic valves and the peristaltic micropumps could successfully execute ELISA tests. Small amounts of samples and reagents could be injected into the diagnosis chips and multiple disease detection could be performed automatically without cross contamination. The development of the automatic bio-sensing chips could provide a useful tool for fast disease detection and be crucial for a micro-total-analysis system.

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