Intégration en consommable plastique jetable : Fabrication, essais fluidiques et performance biologique

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeCurrently, very few LabChip are marketing molecular biology applications since they have not yet mastered how to manufacture disposable tests, involving complex fluids, at a reasonable cost. This study presents a molded polycarbonate demonstrator for a disposable card (63 x 30 x 3 mm) comprising a network of reagent channels (50 and 150 µl) and 12 valves enabling the series of denaturation, capture, washing and nucleic acid elution steps to be performed automatically. Several hundred consumables were assembled following widely-used processes. The fluidic assays were performed to check the manufacturing of this LabChip and show that the fluid is capable of automatically flowing through the card in a reliable way. The preliminary nucleic acid capture and amplification tests with a machined polystyrene consumable, show sensitivity of 1000 copies per assay, which could he improved with molded cards.