{"title":"Candyfluidics: The Art of Fabricating Micro-and Nano-fluidic Geometries using Surface-deposited Sugar Scaffolds","authors":"Tochukwu D Anyaduba, J. Rodriguez-Manzano","doi":"10.1039/d5lc00710k","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The adoption of miniaturization technologies, such as micro and nanofluidic systems, as a strategy for democratized healthcare in developing countries was proposed decades ago. However, regions in most need of cost-effective global health technological solutions such as sub-Saharan Africa, contribute less than 1% of the global research output in the microfluidics field. This dearth of research output from the region may be attributed to economic and technical barriers to rapid prototyping with state-of-the-art tools such as 3D printing and micromilling. As a more accessible, low-cost, and low-resource alternative, we introduce candyfluidics, an innovative method for fabricating micro-and nano-fluidic structures using sugar and screenprinting, which are respectively abundant materials and technology in the region. Exemplified through the creation of flow-focusing chips, we provide detailed procedure for creating microfluidic architectures from surface-deposited candy mixture. The resulting flow-focusing chips were validated by generating water-in-oil droplets with volumes ranging from 0.2 to 1.22 nL under pressure-driven flows. Furthermore, the chips were used to demonstrate digital droplet loop-mediated isothermal amplification for the detection of dengue virus type 1 nucleic acids at femtomolar concentration (∼ 85 copies/ µL). The Candyfluidics fabrication process takes less than 30 minutes and enables the parallel production of multiple chips, offering a rapid and scalable approach to manufacturing microfluidic devices for point-of-need applications.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":"649 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Lab on a Chip","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5lc00710k","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMICAL RESEARCH METHODS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The adoption of miniaturization technologies, such as micro and nanofluidic systems, as a strategy for democratized healthcare in developing countries was proposed decades ago. However, regions in most need of cost-effective global health technological solutions such as sub-Saharan Africa, contribute less than 1% of the global research output in the microfluidics field. This dearth of research output from the region may be attributed to economic and technical barriers to rapid prototyping with state-of-the-art tools such as 3D printing and micromilling. As a more accessible, low-cost, and low-resource alternative, we introduce candyfluidics, an innovative method for fabricating micro-and nano-fluidic structures using sugar and screenprinting, which are respectively abundant materials and technology in the region. Exemplified through the creation of flow-focusing chips, we provide detailed procedure for creating microfluidic architectures from surface-deposited candy mixture. The resulting flow-focusing chips were validated by generating water-in-oil droplets with volumes ranging from 0.2 to 1.22 nL under pressure-driven flows. Furthermore, the chips were used to demonstrate digital droplet loop-mediated isothermal amplification for the detection of dengue virus type 1 nucleic acids at femtomolar concentration (∼ 85 copies/ µL). The Candyfluidics fabrication process takes less than 30 minutes and enables the parallel production of multiple chips, offering a rapid and scalable approach to manufacturing microfluidic devices for point-of-need applications.
期刊介绍:
Lab on a Chip is the premiere journal that publishes cutting-edge research in the field of miniaturization. By their very nature, microfluidic/nanofluidic/miniaturized systems are at the intersection of disciplines, spanning fundamental research to high-end application, which is reflected by the broad readership of the journal. Lab on a Chip publishes two types of papers on original research: full-length research papers and communications. Papers should demonstrate innovations, which can come from technical advancements or applications addressing pressing needs in globally important areas. The journal also publishes Comments, Reviews, and Perspectives.