Practical Microfluidic Technologies for In-Vitro Diagnostic Devices

This article reports the following three types of practical microfluidics: a technology for printing proteins such as antibodies on the surface of microfluidic channels, an ultra-rapid flow-through PCR technology, and a microchannel technology for rapid antigen–antibody reactions. The first is a microfluidic channel based on laser modification and printing technology. The surface of the acrylic substrate of the microfluidic channel was chemically modified by femtosecond laser ablation to facilitate the binding of antibodies. Antibodies can be printed on the acrylic substrates by dispensing an antibody solution with an inkjet printer. The second is the ultra-rapid flow-through PCR microfluidics device. This liquid-plug-flow through PCR effectively avoids flow instability caused by air bubbles and achieved 67% amplification compared to a thermal cycler in the 280 s for PCR completion. The third has developed a microfluidic device that allows enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to be completed within 15 min by simply dropping specimens or reagents. These microfluidic technologies provide practical elemental technologies toward industrial applications.