Development of field deployable technologies for improved health and environmental outcomes

诊断性检测将继续在根除肥胖症方面发挥关键作用，并是决定治疗策略有效性的核心。拟议的设备将执行免疫分析，能够检测肥胖的生物标记物，例如CRP、IL-6纤维蛋白原和肿瘤坏死因子-α。它将使用一种新型的基于液滴的微流控系统，免疫化学将在溶液中保持的微球表面进行。表面张力将被用来通过施加不对称电场来操纵纳升大小的液滴。这项技术可以成功地控制全血和尿液等生物液体，并消除通道或泵等复杂组件。这种简单的几何结构降低了制造成本，并使合并多种试剂变得更容易。通过在溶液中的颗粒上进行免疫化学，该设备可以通过更换试剂来轻松地检测各种疾病的生物标记物。这将确保具有良好的选择性和灵敏度以及快速的反馈。这项提议的长期目标是全面量化电喷雾和数字微流控设备中的蛋白质悬浮行为，目标是使用微型、基于微流控的DMF on介电设备和高分辨率IMS，实现用于肥胖症治疗监测的便携式、护理点诊断测试的目标。

Diagnostic testing will continue to play a key role in the eradication of obesity and is central to determining the effectiveness of treatment strategies. The proposed device will perform an immunoassay capable of detecting biomarkers for obesity, e.g., CRP, IL-6 fibrinogen and TNF-alpha. It will use a novel droplet based microfluidic system and the immunochemistry will take place on the surface of microspheres held in solution. Surface tension forces will be used to manipulate nanolitre sized droplets by applying asymmetric electric fields. This technique can successfully control biological fluids such as whole blood and urine and eliminate complex components like channels or pumps. This straightforward geometry reduces fabrication costs and makes it easier to incorporate multiple reagents. By having the immunochemistry occur on particles in solution, the device can be easily adapted to detect biomarkers for various diseases by changing the reagents. This will ensure excellent selectivity and sensitivity with fast feedback. The long term goal of this proposal is to fully quantify protein suspension behaviour in electrosprays and digital microfluidic devices towards the goal of a portable, point-of-care diagnostic test for obesity treatment monitoring using a miniaturized, microfluidic-based DMF on dielectric device coupled with high-resolution IMS.