Portable biochemical detection systems using microfluidic and BioMEMS devices

Abstract

In this paper, recent research activities at the Microsystems and BioMEMS Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati (UC) will be presented, which includes handheld biochemical detection systems with sampling and analysis capabilities and plastic based disposable biochips for clinical diagnostics. In the past few years, numerous microfluidic prototype devices and systems have been developed, specifically for biochemical warfare detection systems and portable diagnostic applications. BioMEMS-research team at the University of Cincinnati has been working on the development of a remotely accessible generic microfluidic system for biochemical detection and biomedical analysis, based on the concepts of both surface-mountable microfluidic motherboards and electrochemical detection techniques. The goal of this work is to develop a generic MEMS-based microfluidic system and to apply the fluidic system to detect bio-molecules such as specific proteins and/or antigens in liquid samples.