An automated 3D-printed smartphone platform integrated with optoelectrowetting (OEW) microfluidic chip for on-site monitoring of viable algae in water
An automated 3D-printed smartphone platform integrated with optoelectrowetting (OEW) microfluidic chip for on-site monitoring of viable algae in water
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DOI：
10.1016/j.hal.2019.101638
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发表时间：
2019-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
6.6
通讯作者：
Bae, Sungwoo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lee, Seunguk;Thio, Si Kuan;Bae, Sungwoo
水生生态系统中藻类及其相关毒素的突然增加会对水质产生有害影响，造成严重的社会经济和公共卫生问题。为了防止有害藻类在水生生态系统中扩散，必须通过快速和现场监测系统跟踪水质。然而，常规的藻类定量方法，如显微镜、血细胞计数和紫外可见光谱，通常不适合或不方便用于原位评估，因为它们需要熟练的劳动力和昂贵的设备。在这项研究中，我们开发了一个三维（3D）打印的智能手机平台，集成了一个由光电润湿（OEW）操作的光驱动微流体芯片。这种OEW驱动的微流体芯片不仅允许多路复用的逐滴功能，例如液滴运输、合并、混合、固定在检测区上，用于芯片上的水样制备，而且还允许使用市售智能手机对目标藻类细胞进行荧光检测和计数。两种淡水藻类（C. reinhardtii和M.铜绿假单胞菌（Amphiprora sp.）在这项研究中，采用了3D打印智能手机平台。微流控芯片的活藻荧光图像和细胞计数结果与血细胞计数器的结果具有可比性（P > 0.05）。进一步对直接从环境样品中采集的淡水和海水样品进行加标试验，结果表明，加标藻细胞培养物中的细胞数量与对照藻细胞培养物中的细胞数量在同一数量级（106 cell/mL，P > 0.05）。与传统的定量方法不同，与OEW集成的3D打印智能手机平台提供了一种高度便携、用户友好、低成本的工具，可以实现简单的片上样品制备和活藻类检测。因此，这种独立的技术具有快速和原位监测水质的潜力，同时使用智能手机的无线通信功能实时报告水质。
A sudden increase of algae and their associated toxins in aquatic ecosystems can detrimentally affect the quality of the water, causing serious socio-economic and public health problems. To prevent the spread of harmful algae in aquatic ecosystems, it is essential to track the water's quality through rapid and in-situ monitoring systems. Conventional methods of algae quantification such as microscopy, hemocytometry, and UV-vis spectroscopy, however, are often unsuitable or inconvenient for in-situ assessment as they require skilled labor and expensive equipment. In this study, we developed a three-dimensional (3D)-printed smartphone platform integrated with a light-driven microfluidic chip operated by optoelectrowetting (OEW). This OEW-driven microfluidic chip not only allows multiplexed drop-wise functions such as droplet transportation, merging, mixing, immobilization on a detection zone, for on-chip water sample preparation but also fluorescent detection and counting of target algae cells using a commercially-available smartphone. Two freshwater algae (C. reinhardtii and M. aeruginosa) and two marine water algae (Amphiprora sp and C. closterium) were employed to validate the 3D-printed smartphone platform in this study. The fluorescence images of viable algae and the cell counting from the microfluidic chip were comparable to the results from a hemocytometer (P > 0.05). We have further conducted tests with spiked samples using freshwater and marine water that were directly collected from environmental samples, showing the same order of magnitude of cell numbers in the spiked and control cultures of algae cells (10 6 cell/mL, P > 0.05). Unlike traditional quantification methods, the 3D-printed smartphone platform integrated with the OEW offers a highly portable, user-friendly, low-cost tool that enables simple on-chip sample preparation and detection of viable algae. Thus, this stand-alone technology has the potential for rapid and insitu monitoring of water quality, while using the smartphone's wireless communication capabilities to report the quality of the water in real-time.