Eventi
Martedì 13 novembre 2018 alle ore 11.00
presso l’Aula 1 dell’Edificio F
Area della Ricerca CNR
Via Madonna del Piano, 10 Sesto F.no (Firenze)
la Dott.ssa Lisa Tripodi
del MeBioS-Biosensor Group
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgio
terrà il seminario:
"Integrating microwell-assisted digital bioassays in microfluidics for next generation in-vitro-diagnostics tests"
Currently, the in-vitro-diagnostics (IVD) tests aim at the combination of automation, simplicity, portability and affordability with highly sensitive, specific and versatile analytical performances. As a matter of fact, IVD researchers are constantly balancing the requirements of analytical chemistry with those engineering the devices, as in addition miniaturization must be feasible to allow automation with ease of operation at a competitive cost.
On this regard, microfluidics and microwell-assisted digital bioassays have been proving to be between the most remarkable technologial drivers. While microwell-assisted digital bioassay allows high degree of specificity and sensitivity, microfluidics ensures miniaturization, automation, precise manipulation of small reagents volumes and short time-to results. Hence, the integration of microwell-assisted digital bioassays in microfluidics would result in a bioasensor platform which could potentially fulfill the IVD requirements at once.
However, albeit preliminary studies have been already depicted in literature, the integration of microwell-assisted digital bioassays in microfluidics is still far from full development, in terms of bioassay versatility and device engineering. Despite microwell-assisted digital bioassays have been largely performed for the sensitive detection of proteins, their applicability for oligonucleotides (i.e. DNA, SNPs) detection is still an unxplored territory. Moreover, several engineering challenges remain: (i) the high fabrication throughput and low power consumption of the microfluidic devices; (ii) the generation of smart microwell arrays for reliable digital bioassays, (iii) the compatible implementation of these microwell arrays with microfluidics.
During the seminar, current advancements in compartmentalized microfluidic platforms for the generation of versatile microwell-assisted digital bioassays will be discussed, focusing on:
- the establishment of microwell-assisted digital bioassays for oligonucleotides,
- the establishment of high throughput microfluidic platforms fabrication,
- the establishment of high throughput microwell arrays fabrication and their implementation in the microfluidic platforms.
Understanding the trade-off between bioassays performances and microfluidics engineering is fundamental to keep the IVD requirements in balance and the ultimate implementation successful.