Self-powered microfluidic chip enables early cancer detection in as little as 20 minutes
If enough of the target microRNA is present, the chip produces a fluorescence signal that can be detected using a fluorescence microscope.
The team’s microfluidic chip is inexpensive to make and relies on an internal pressure gradient to pump the sample through the microchannels, thus eliminating the need for an external power supply.
In their latest work, Hosokawa and co-workers increased the chip’s sensitivity by boosting the intensity of fluorescence generated by a positive test. The original chip worked by immobilizing target microRNA on probe DNA in the main microchannel, where each bound site produced a fluorescent signal. In the new chips, the researchers added a fluorescence amplification process that involves passing two amplification reagents over the immobilized microRNA. The reagents—a fluorescent tag and a branched linker—bind to immobilized microRNA to form tree-like dendritic structures that amplify the fluorescence signal by up to 1,000 times. Using this amplification process, the researchers were able to improve the sensitivity of the device to a level approaching that required for early cancer detection.
The next step for the team will be to further simplify the device by eliminating the need for a fluorescence microscope, which will involve replacing the fluorescent tags with some other form of marker. The team is also working to improve the sensitivity of the technique.
Source and top image: RIKEN Advanced Science Institute
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