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Development of a microfluidic design for an automatic lab-on-chip operation

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Abstract

Simple and easy to use are the keys for developing lab-on-chip technology. Here, a new microfluidic circuit has been designed for an automatic lab-on-chip operation (ALOCO) device. This chip used capillary forces for controlled and precise manipulation of liquids, which were loaded in sequence from different flowing directions towards the analysis area. Using the ALOCO design, a non-expert user is able to operate the chip by pipetting liquids into suitable inlet reservoirs. To test this design, microfluidic devices were fabricated using the programmable proximity aperture lithography technique. The operation of the ALOCO chip was characterized from the flow of red-, blue- and un-dyed deionized water. Experimental result indicated that red water, which filled first the analysis area, was substituted entirely with blue water. Controlled sequential flows of these water in the ALOCO device are demonstrated in this paper.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially funded by European union (EU) Grant Agreement Number 262411. The funding source had no involvement or role in the development of this article. Dr. Liping Wang is gratefully acknowledged for conceptualization of the microfluidic design.

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Author notes

  1. Harry J. Whitlow

    Present address: Louisiana Accelerator Center, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, P.O. Box 43600, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70504-43600, USA

  2. Leena Meriläinen

    Present address: Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Science and Nanoscience Center, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland

    Nitipon Puttaraksa, Leena Meriläinen & Leona Gilbert

  2. Department of Physics, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland

    Harry J. Whitlow & Mari Napari

Authors
  1. Nitipon Puttaraksa
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  2. Harry J. Whitlow
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  3. Mari Napari
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  4. Leena Meriläinen
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  5. Leona Gilbert
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Correspondence to Nitipon Puttaraksa.

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Puttaraksa, N., Whitlow, H.J., Napari, M. et al. Development of a microfluidic design for an automatic lab-on-chip operation. Microfluid Nanofluid 20, 142 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-016-1808-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-016-1808-0

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