Paper-based microfluidic device : serial dilution application

Abstract

Recently, there is an increasing demand in point-of-care diagnostic devices in the healthcare industry. Statistics show that such devices have high accuracy and can reduce diagnosis time significantly. Using paper-based microfluidic devices as diagnostic tools offers the benefits of being cheap and great portability and able to use it in low resource environment. The research objective is to develop a paper-based microfluidic device for serial dilution application, which is usually the initial stage in diagnosing of diseases. Current serial dilution practice is through manual pipetting, and is a time consuming task. Extensive literature review covers the fundamentals of paper-based microfluidic and currently available techniques. Characterization of paper and fluid flow in paper had been covered to give better understanding in the wicking process. The paper circuit designed in this study was based on several experimental results and observations, with the concentration of fluid in the circuit calculated by image analysis using ImageJ. The final design of the paper-based serial dilution circuit gives the user a pre-defined dilution factor. Future development includes integrating with electrochemistry technology which is able to provide measurements and act as a sensor to detect certain content in the fluid. This will greatly enhance the capability of diagnosis of diseases in the healthcare industry.