MICROFLUIDIC SYSTEM FOR THE DETECTION OF MICROORGANISMS

分析系统的小型化为克服与生物医学、制药和诊断应用中的传统仪器分析方法相关的许多问题提供了相当大的潜力，即处理少量昂贵的试剂和由操作者在试剂制备中引入的错误。在芯片上进行分析的优点包括降低的功率要求、在便携式仪器中同时进行多种分析的能力以及由于所测量的分析物体积是纳米级的而提高测量的灵敏度。本提案的目的是开发一种新型的便携式微流体系统，用于检测液体样品如血液、血浆和/或水性或非水性样品中的生物细胞和微生物。微型化仪器将在通常在一毫升范围内采集的真实的世界样品之间提供独特的界面，并将它们浓缩（高达10，000倍）到芯片微通道内的纳升体积中。通过芯片上聚合酶链反应（PCR）扩增微生物特征DNA检测微生物。该系统基于两个创新，一个用于浓缩微生物，另一个提供了一种新的简化的DNA扩增子检测原理。在这个项目中开发的原则将为开发新一代高灵敏度便携式仪器提供基础，这些仪器能够检测浓度低至每毫升10个细胞的微生物。拟议的商业应用：所提出的微流控系统将在未来的微流控仪器中找到大量的应用，用于集成用于液体样品中不同尺寸的生物和无机颗粒的浓缩、运输和检测的基本组件。所开发仪器的潜在商业应用将包括在护理点或床边测试、现场环境监测以及食品、化学、制药和生物技术行业的生产线上的生物医学诊断。

Miniaturization of analytical systems offers considerable potential for overcoming many of the problems associated with traditional instrumental methods of analysis in biomedical, pharmaceutical and diagnostics applications, namely the handling of small amounts of costly reagents and errors introduced by the operator in preparation of the reagents. The advantages of performing analyses on-chip comprise reduced power requirements, the ability to perform multiple analyses simultaneously in a portable instrument and enhancement of the sensitivity of the measurements as the analyte volumes measured are at nano-scale. The objective of this proposal is to develop a new type of portable microfluidic system for the detection of biological cells and microorganisms in liquid samples such as blood, plasma and/or aqueous or non-aqueous samples. The miniaturized instrument will provide a unique interface between real world samples taken usually in the range of a milliliter(s), and will concentrate them (up to 10,000 fold) into nanoliter volume within the chip microchannels. The microorganisms are detected through on-chip polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of microorganism characteristic DNA. The system is based on two innovations, one for concentrating the microorganisms and the other provides a new simplified detection principle of the DNA amplicons. The principles developed in this project will provide a basis for the development of a new generation of highly sensitive portable instruments capable of detecting microorganisms at concentrations as low as 10 cells per ml. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: The proposed microfluidic system will find a large number of applications in future microfluidic instrumentation for integration of basic components for concentration, transport and detection of biologic and inorganic particles of varying size in liquid samples. Potential commercial applications of the developed instrument will include biomedical diagnostics at the point-of-care or bedside testing, in-field environmental monitoring and on production lines in the food, chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.