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Shaping up field-deployable nucleic acid testing using microfluidic paper-based analytical devices

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Abstract

Rapid, low-cost, and sensitive nucleic acid detection and quantification assays enabled by microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) hold great promise for point-of-care disease diagnostics and field-based molecular tests. Through the capillary action in μPAD, flexible manipulation of nucleic acid samples can be achieved without the need for external pumps or power supplies, making it possible to fabricate highly integrated sample-to-answer devices that streamline the nucleic acid extraction, separation, concentration, amplification, and detection. To detect minute amounts of genetic materials from clinical and biological samples, it is also critical to develop sensitive signal readouts that generate physically detectable signals for in-device nucleic acid detection and/or quantification. In this review, we will focus on μPAD approaches for the facile manipulation of nucleic acids and emerging signal transduction strategies allowing sensitive and specific nucleic acid detection in μPAD.

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Funding

This study received a financial support from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Centres of Excellence, the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, and the Brock University Start-Up Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Centre for Biotechnology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada

    Tianyu Dong, Guan A. Wang & Feng Li

  2. College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, 29 Wangjiang Road, Chengdu, 610065, Sichuan, China

    Feng Li

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  1. Tianyu Dong
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Correspondence to Feng Li.

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Published in the topical collection Young Investigators in (Bio-)Analytical Chemistry with guest editors Erin Baker, Kerstin Leopold, Francesco Ricci, and Wei Wang.

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Dong, T., Wang, G.A. & Li, F. Shaping up field-deployable nucleic acid testing using microfluidic paper-based analytical devices. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 4401–4414 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01595-7

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