Flow control in textile-based capillary-driven microfluidic platforms

获得可靠和及时的诊断和环境测试对于确保人类健康和环境至关重要。基于纸张的微流体测试使用户能够进行自己的测试，而不是依赖于实验室中训练有素的人员，这大大增加了获得可靠测试的机会。我的团队在孟加拉国开发了用于水测试的纸基砷测试，并在纸基平台上制作了用于过敏测试的微型特征。纸基测试是用户友好的，因为流体流动是毛细驱动的，这是自动发生的，使测试能够在没有外部设备（如泵）的情况下使用。纺织品还可以提供毛细驱动的流动。纺织品是由纤维网络制成的柔性材料，通过编织、针织、打结、编结和其他方法形成。在纺织品平台上创建测试有几个优点，包括强度和灵活性，通过纤维放置创建有序和精确的流动路径的能力，涂层改变流动的能力，与各种流体的兼容性，以及世界各地纺织品制造的简单性和普遍性。基于我们团队在纸基微流体平台上的成功，纺织品为我们提供了一个令人兴奋的机会，可以创建具有高精度和可预测性的强大的用户友好测试。该研究计划的目标是通过了解有序纤维网络中毛细驱动的流动行为来扩展基于纺织品的微流体测试平台的功能，并开发定制的纺织品来控制这种流动。这将通过以下方式实现：1）确定纤维间距对毛细管驱动流动的影响，并使用纤维图案来提供可控的流速，2）分析纤维类型和处理对毛细管驱动流动行为的影响，以及3）检查各种纤维涂层的表面张力和毛细管驱动流动行为。然后，该计划将探索基于纺织品的测试平台在特定测试中的应用，特别是对娱乐和非法药物的测试。预期结果：这项研究将通过基于纺织品的微流体平台来了解毛细管驱动的流动，并开发简单的方法来控制流动。然后，基于纺织品的平台可以用于开发针对广泛的诊断和环境目标的用户友好的测试，其兼容性使测试比目前可能的更多物质成为可能。这些测试将使用户能够获得有关其健康及其周围环境健康的关键和及时的信息，从而改善健康状况。根据该计划培训的人员将获得微流体测试设计和开发方面的宝贵技能，这将使他们适合加拿大不断扩大的生物技术领域的职业生涯。

Access to reliable and timely diagnostic and environmental testing is crucial to ensure the health of people and the environment. Paper-based microfluidic tests enable users to perform their own testing instead of relying on trained personnel in labs, which vastly increases access to reliable testing. My group has developed paper-based arsenic tests for water testing in Bangladesh, and fabricated miniaturized features in paper-based platforms for allergy testing. Paper-based tests are user-friendly because the fluid flow is capillary-driven, which occurs automatically and enables the tests to be used without external devices, such as pumps. Textiles can also provide capillary-driven flow. Textiles are flexible materials made from a network of fibres formed by weaving, knitting, knotting, braiding, and other methods. There are several advantages to creating tests on textile platforms including strength and flexibility, the ability to create ordered and precise flow paths with fibre placement, the capability for coatings to alter the flow, compatibility with a wide range of fluids, and the simplicity and ubiquity of textile manufacturing around the world. Building on my group's success with paper-based microfluidic platforms, textiles present us with an exciting opportunity to create robust user-friendly tests with high precision and predictability. The objective of this research program is to expand the functionality of textile-based microfluidic test platforms by developing an understanding of the capillary-driven flow behaviour through ordered fibrous networks and to develop customized textiles to control this flow. This will be accomplished by 1) determining the influence of fibre spacing on the capillary-driven flow and using fibre patterns to provide controllable flow speeds, 2) analysing the influence of fibre types and treatments on the capillary-driven flow behaviour, and 3) examining the surface tension and capillary-driven flow behaviour of various fibre coatings. This program will then explore the application of the textile-based testing platforms for specific tests, particularly testing for recreational and illicit drugs. Anticipated Outcomes: The research supported by this grant will develop an understanding of capillary-driven flow through textile-based microfluidic platforms and develop simple methods to control the flow. Textile-based platforms can then be used to develop user-friendly tests for a wide range of diagnostic and environmental targets, with the compatibility enabling the testing of more substances than is currently possible. These tests will allow users to obtain critical and timely information about their health and the health of their surrounding environments, leading to improved health outcomes. The personnel trained under this program will acquire a valuable skillset in microfluidic test design and development that will make them suitable for careers in Canada's expanding biotech sector.