Feasibility of using direct mechanical micromachining to build microfluidic cartridges for capillary driven Point of Care diagnostic devices

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Blood analysis is an important parameter to diagnose a medical condition of a patient. Most blood tests are carried out in a local hospital which requires scheduling and waiting time. A hand held blood analyzer on the other hand has much benefit by providing these blood tests near the point of contact of a patient. This will help for example paramedics, intensive care unit personnel or disaster relief personnel to perform blood test on the spot and respond accordingly. Although many handheld systems exist none of them combine electrochemical and optical spectroscopy methods. With this proposal, we will contribute towards the development of a disposable cartridge for ChroMedX Corp. that is suitable for performing optical and chemical measurements of a blood sample in their hand held analyzer. A cost effective precision manufacturing technique will be used to prototype such disposable cartridges for mass production. This will help the company to reach their targeted global market of $38 billion by year 2020. This project will enable ChroMedX to develop prototypes and validate their assays. This project will also develop interdisciplinary skills in the students and the interaction with industrial partner will be an excellent training for the students.