{"title":"Flexible calorimetric differential pressure sensor array integrated with a superhydrophobic surface for flight parameter estimation.","authors":"Xin Ke, Yu Gao, Zheng Gong, Yunfan Li, Zihao Dong, Bowei Wan, Yurun Guo, Yonggang Jiang","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00942-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00942-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Distributed pressure sensor array is a promising approach for the estimation of flight parameters for small unmanned aerial vehicles. Current flexible pressure sensor arrays are conventionally subjected to limited sensor resolution, poor bending flexibility, and inadequate packaging protection, resulting in insufficient precision for flight parameter estimation. Here we present a high-resolution differential pressure sensor array using a calorimetric measurement method and a multilayer polyimide bonding technique. The proposed differential pressure sensor array reaches a detection limit of 36.5 mPa over a range of 500 Pa and shows high repeatability when attached to varying curved surfaces. In addition, a superhydrophobic packaging is integrated into the sensor fabrication process, endowing it with waterproof capability. Utilizing a multilayer perceptron neural network, we demonstrated the function of the sensor array in estimating airspeeds and angle of attacks, achieving average solving errors of 0.15 m/s and 0.37°, respectively.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"146"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12280219/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144682788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adira Colton, Ryan N Halli, M Rho Ma, Tejaswi Nori, Lucas K Muller, Kieran J Barvenik, Mahima Srivastava, Bibek Ramdam, Sunandita Sarker, Eleonora Tubaldi, Peter Kofinas, Kinneret Rand-Yadin, Ryan D Sochol
{"title":"Geometric determinants of sinterless, low-temperature-processed 3D-nanoprinted glass.","authors":"Adira Colton, Ryan N Halli, M Rho Ma, Tejaswi Nori, Lucas K Muller, Kieran J Barvenik, Mahima Srivastava, Bibek Ramdam, Sunandita Sarker, Eleonora Tubaldi, Peter Kofinas, Kinneret Rand-Yadin, Ryan D Sochol","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00983-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00983-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Glass materials are essential for microsystems applications in fields ranging from optics and photonics to microfluidics and biomedicine, which has driven growing interest in additive manufacturing-or \"three-dimensional (3D) printing\"-to enable glass micro/nanotechnologies. Notably, the recent discovery that 3D-nanostructured fused silica glass components can be produced via \"two-photon direct laser writing (DLW)\" of hybrid organic-inorganic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS)-based resins holds unique promise, particularly due to the advantages of sinterless, low-temperature (i.e., 650 °C) post-processing. At present, however, it remains unknown how implementing such methodologies to 3D print larger glass microstructures (e.g., with ≥25-µm-thick features) affects critical material properties, such as the ultimate optical and mechanical characteristics. To address this knowledge gap, here we investigate DLW-printed feature size as a key determinant of the optical and mechanical properties of POSS-based fused silica glass microstructures. Experiments for DLW-printed microlenses reveal comparable optical transparency for initial thicknesses up to 40 µm, but increasing to 60 µm significantly reduces light transmission from 87.87 ± 1.18% to 63.57 ± 5.10%. Similarly, compressive loading studies for hollow glass cylindrical microstructures show consistent behavior for initial DLW-printed wall thicknesses up to 30 µm, but significant performance degradation beyond-e.g., Young's modulus decreasing from 251.6 ± 71.9 to 99.7 ± 63.9 MPa for the 30 to 40 µm cases, respectively. As an exemplar with relevance to biomedical microinjection applications, we harness this new knowledge to DLW-print POSS-based glass microneedle arrays (MNAs) and demonstrate their ability to penetrate into a medium not possible using standard polymer MNAs. In combination, this study establishes critical optical and mechanical benchmarks that underlie the utility of DLW 3D-printed POSS-based fused silica glass microstructures in emerging applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"145"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12271355/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144659603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kiran Shrestha, Seongryeong Kim, Jiyeon Han, Meng Zhang, Sajjan Parajuli, Gyoujin Cho
{"title":"Infectious disease diagnostic device using rapid and efficient qPCR assays on a multi-target chip: idream-qPCR.","authors":"Kiran Shrestha, Seongryeong Kim, Jiyeon Han, Meng Zhang, Sajjan Parajuli, Gyoujin Cho","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00972-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00972-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Photothermal conversion-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is a fast, sensitive, and accurate method to diagnose infectious diseases. However, they have bottlenecks in test throughput scalability, cumbersome oil cover, and a lack of multi-target capability. Here, the authors present an infectious disease diagnostic device with rapid photothermal conversion-based efficient reverse transcription (RT)-qPCR assays on a multi-target chip (idream-qPCR). The authors innovate an off-axis mirror-based three-channel fluorescence intensity measurement method, enabling concurrent non-contact temperature control of 16 mini-well reaction chambers for qPCRs without the necessity of actuating parts. A transparent adhesive film on a graphite mixed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based PCR chip with mini-wells avoids contamination and bubbles to achieve 16 RT-qPCRs (40 photothermal cycles) within 17 min. Finally, idream-qPCR is validated by amplifying severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) N1 72 bp, RdRP 100 bp, and E 113 bp genes using Fluorescein amidites (FAM), Carboxytetramethylrhodamine (TAMRA), and Cyanine5 (CY5) fluorescent dyes, respectively, with 102.5% efficiency and a limit-of-detection (LoD) equivalent to 0.85 copies/µL. idream-qPCR can be efficiently used to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"143"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12259970/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144637610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Design method for out-of-plane motion rejecting structure in 2-DoF large stroke actuators.","authors":"Wei Bian, Xiaoguang Zhao, Wenshuai Lu, Yijun Yang, Junjie Zhang, Rui You, Fei Xing","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00971-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00971-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper addresses a critical challenge in the design of MEMS actuators: the rejection of out-of-plane motion, specifically along the Z-axis, which can severely impact the precision and performance of these micro-actuation systems. In many MEMS applications, unwanted out-of-plane displacement can lead to reduced accuracy in tasks such as optical steering, micro-manipulation, and scanning applications. In response to these limitations, this paper proposes a novel design technique that effectively rejects Z-axis motion by transforming the motion of the micro stage along the Z-axis into equivalent displacements between pairs of points on cantilevers. These point pairs are founded exhibiting variable common-mode and differential-mode motion characteristics, depending on whether the stage is undergoing in-plane (X/Y) or out-of-plane (Z) displacements. By connecting these point pairs with rods, differential motion between the points in the pairs is suppressed, reducing unwanted out-of-plane motion significantly. We provide a detailed analysis of this design methodology and present a practical application in the form of an electromagnetic large displacement MEMS actuator. This actuator undergoes a complete design-simulation-manufacturing-testing cycle, where the effectiveness of the Z-axis motion rejection structure is systematically evaluated, and compared against traditional designs. Experimental results reveal a significant improvement in performance, with static and dynamic travel ranges reaching ±60 μm and ±400 μm, respectively. Moreover, the Z-axis stiffness was enhanced by 68.5%, which is more than five times the improvement observed in the X/Y axes' stiffness. These results highlight the potential of the proposed method to provide a robust solution for out-of-plane motion suppression in MEMS actuators, offering improved performance without compromising other critical parameters such as displacement and actuation speed.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"144"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12264151/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144642933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dan Xian, Yanan Zhao, Yongjun Du, Yiwei Xu, Jiacheng Qiao, Jingen Wu, Qijing Lin, Ming Liu, Zhuangde Jiang
{"title":"Highly magneto-electric-mechanical coupling effect in self-biased magnetoelectric composite induced by laser thermal annealing.","authors":"Dan Xian, Yanan Zhao, Yongjun Du, Yiwei Xu, Jiacheng Qiao, Jingen Wu, Qijing Lin, Ming Liu, Zhuangde Jiang","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00875-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00875-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The development of advanced magnetoelectric (ME) composites necessitates high-performance materials that are capable of achieving high levels of ME coupling, minimal magnetic loss, and absence or limited reliance on external excitation sources. In this paper, a (2-2) connectivity ME laminate integrates multiple layers of FeSiB alloy (Metglas) and Pb (Mg, Nb) O<sub>3</sub>-PbTiO<sub>3</sub> (PMN-PT) single crystal, achieving a remarkable ME coupling coefficient of 2033.4 V/Oe·cm (sevenfold rise) by laser thermal annealing treatment. Here, the laser-induced nanostructures on Metglas, with an oxidized insulation layer and soft and hard magnetic dipole layer improve the Magneto-electric-mechanical coupling with a mechanical quality factor (Q<sub>m</sub>) exceeding 350. More importantly, the interaction between amorphous and nanocrystalline dipoles triggers an Exchange Bias (EB) effect, leading to a self-biasing performance of 67.45 V/Oe·cm. Furthermore, the composite exhibits an excellent passive DC magnetic detection limit of 22 nT, and an improved weak AC magnetic detection limit down to 383 fT. These explorations offer the potential to enhance passive current measurement, and underwater communication, extend weak magnetic positioning and brain magnetic detection.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"142"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12259936/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144637609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Declan Winship, Weilin Liao, Hsueh-Tsung Lu, Irene Lara-Ibeas, Xiangyu Zhao, Qu Xu, Tao Qian, Robert Gordenker, Yutao Qin, Yogesh B Gianchandani
{"title":"An enhanced-performance multisensing progressive cellular μGC: design advances and blind test results.","authors":"Declan Winship, Weilin Liao, Hsueh-Tsung Lu, Irene Lara-Ibeas, Xiangyu Zhao, Qu Xu, Tao Qian, Robert Gordenker, Yutao Qin, Yogesh B Gianchandani","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00984-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00984-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many environmental, industrial, and security applications demand in-field analysis of chemical vapors. Whereas microscale gas chromatographs (µGCs) are promising candidates, reliable in-field chemical analysis particularly demands repeatability, humidity tolerance, and in-field reference. Using a µGC with substantial monolithic integration (of preconcentrators, separation columns, and capacitive and photoionization detectors), this paper reports chip-level and system-level advancements towards reliable chemical analysis. Thermal management is advanced using tailored heater designs to compensate for boundary conditions and cooling. Fence electrodes are incorporated into on-chip photoionization detectors, reducing responses due to humidity by >98%. The repeatability of retention time is advanced by introducing closed-loop flow control, reducing the relative standard deviation of retention time to only 0.29-0.43%, which represents a 4-5× improvement over open-loop flow control. A miniature reservoir for a chemical reference standard is also incorporated on board, providing the ability to correct for drifts in retention time and the ability to directly measure retention times relative to the reference chemical. A set of blind false alarm tests was performed for fixed target analytes in the presence of partially coeluting interferent species. A separate set of blind chemical recognition tests was also performed for various analytes of concealed identities. Overall, the results were largely successful and showed the promise of the reported µGC instrument and modules for broad chemical screening and long-term in-field deployment.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"141"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12254352/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144619028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pengfei Xu, Xia Wu, Zefang Zhang, Peng Pan, Xinyu Liu
{"title":"Enhancing the rectification effect of hydrogel-based stretchable ionic diodes through incorporating cations with high valence.","authors":"Pengfei Xu, Xia Wu, Zefang Zhang, Peng Pan, Xinyu Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00943-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00943-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The controlled migration of ions in biological systems has inspired the development of ion-based electronics. Ionic diodes, leveraging ions as charge carriers, offer selective control over ion flux, mimicking ion-selective behavior observed in biological systems. Conventional ionic diodes containing fluids encounter challenges in adapting to biological systems due to their limited stretchability and stability. Recent advancements in solid-state ionic diodes based on stretchable gels enable tissue-like stretchability while maintaining diode-like performance. However, their relatively low rectification ratio hinders their electrical performance, necessitating effective strategies to enhance the rectification effect of stretchable ionic diodes. Here, we propose a method to enhance the rectification effect of hydrogel-based stretchable ionic diodes by incorporating high-valence cations into the P-type hydrogel layer. Through neutralization reactions, cations with valences of 1, 2, and 3 were introduced to replace original hydrogen ions in the hydrogel, resulting in a substantial increase in the rectification ratio from 3 to over 70, with an elevated rectification ratio (140) under 100% strain. The enhanced rectification effect enables applications in iontronics, such as ionic rectifiers and bipolar junction transistors (BJTs). This study, for the first time, highlights the potential of improving electrical performances of iontronics through the manipulation of different ion properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"139"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12254241/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144619040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Figure of merit for piezoelectric MEMS speakers.","authors":"Mingchao Sun, Menglun Zhang, Yale Wang, Shaobo Gong, Chen Sun, Chongling Sun, Chengze Liu, Linbing Xu, Wei Pang","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00991-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00991-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Piezoelectric MEMS speakers, an emerging technology with great promise, face significant challenges in performance evaluation and rational design. Their broadband nature means that responses at every frequency point across the whole operating bandwidth contribute to performance, yet there is no widely recognized weighting approach for fair evaluation. This absence of quantitative criteria makes objective comparisons of different designs difficult, slowing the adoption of new design concepts; and it leads to ambiguous design goals without response balance across frequency bands. Additionally, the current design methods rely on labor-intensive simulations, further prolonging the development process. To address these challenges, two figures of merit (FOMs) obtained via theoretical deduction are proposed in this study. These FOMs facilitate the evaluation of key metrics, such as sound pressure level and energy efficiency over a wide frequency range, enabling quantitative comparisons among various speaker designs. On the basis of FOMs, the design process can be simplified into a single-objective optimization problem, significantly streamlining the speaker design. Using this method, piezoelectric MEMS speakers with ultra-high FOMs and superior performance are demonstrated. The normalized SPLs at 1 and 10 kHz reach an impressive 76.6 and 86.6 dB/mm²/V<sub>rms</sub>, respectively, with normalized sensitivities of 91.2 and 91.5 dB/mm<sup>2</sup>/mW. This achievement validates our FOM theory, representing a notable advancement in the field.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"138"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12254257/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144619041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yingying Li, Simon J Bleiker, Elliott Worsey, Maël Dagon, Pierre Edinger, Alain Yuji Takabayashi, Niels Quack, Peter Verheyen, Wim Bogaerts, Kristinn B Gylfason, Dinesh Pamunuwa, Frank Niklaus
{"title":"Volatile and non-volatile nano-electromechanical switches fabricated in a CMOS-compatible silicon-on-insulator foundry process.","authors":"Yingying Li, Simon J Bleiker, Elliott Worsey, Maël Dagon, Pierre Edinger, Alain Yuji Takabayashi, Niels Quack, Peter Verheyen, Wim Bogaerts, Kristinn B Gylfason, Dinesh Pamunuwa, Frank Niklaus","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00964-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00964-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nanoelectromechanical (NEM) switches have the advantages of zero leakage current, abrupt switching characteristics, and harsh environmental capabilities. This makes them a promising component for digital computing circuits when high energy efficiency under extreme environmental conditions is important. However, to make NEM-based logic circuits commercially viable, NEM switches must be manufacturable in existing semiconductor foundry platforms to guarantee reliable switch fabrication and very large-scale integration densities, which remains a big challenge. Here, we demonstrate the use of a commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) foundry platform (iSiPP50G by IMEC, Belgium) to implement monolithically integrated silicon (Si) NEM switches. Using this SOI foundry platform featuring sub-200 nm lithography technology, we implemented two different types of NEM switches: (1) a volatile 3-terminal (3-T) NEM switch with a low actuation voltage of 5.6 V and (2) a bi-stable 7-terminal (7-T) NEM switch, featuring either volatile or non-volatile switching behavior, depending on the switch contact design. The experimental results presented here show how an established CMOS-compatible SOI foundry process can be utilized to realize highly integrated Si NEM switches, removing a significant barrier towards scalable manufacturing of high performance and high-density NEM-based programmable logic circuits and non-volatile memories.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"140"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12254297/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144619042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kenia Chávez-Ramos, Frida Trejo, Prisciluis Caheri Salas-Navarrete, Eva Ramón-Gallegos, José Esteban Muñoz-Medina, Luis Alvarez-Icaza, Luis F Olguin, Oscar Pilloni, Laura Oropeza-Ramos
{"title":"Critical aspects of droplet digital reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (ddRT-LAMP) for viral pathogens detection.","authors":"Kenia Chávez-Ramos, Frida Trejo, Prisciluis Caheri Salas-Navarrete, Eva Ramón-Gallegos, José Esteban Muñoz-Medina, Luis Alvarez-Icaza, Luis F Olguin, Oscar Pilloni, Laura Oropeza-Ramos","doi":"10.1038/s41378-025-00982-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41378-025-00982-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The COVID-19 pandemic evidenced the urgent need for rapid, accurate, and scalable diagnostic methods for emerging infectious diseases. Droplet digital reverse transcription LAMP (ddRT-LAMP) is a promising technique for pathogen detection and accurate quantification, as it overcomes traditional LAMP's limitations in viral load estimation through reaction partitioning and digital analysis. However, many parameters must be adjusted to avoid spurious results. This study evaluates the critical conditions for effective ddRT-LAMP quantification of the SARS-CoV-2 N gene in plasmid DNA, synthetic RNA, and nasopharyngeal swab samples. Using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device, the RT-LAMP reaction mixture with a fluorescent dye was divided into thousands of droplets stabilized by a surfactant in fluorinated oil. After incubation, the droplets were injected into a PDMS chamber for fluorescent imaging to determine the proportion of positive droplets and quantify the samples based on the Poisson distribution. The results showed that primer design and master mix composition significantly impacted the amplification. The selection of GelGreen® as the fluorescent dye was crucial, as other dyes tested diffused into the oil phase. Optimal amplification occurred with 105 µm droplet diameter and 30-min incubation, achieving detection and quantification limits of 10<sup>2</sup> cp/µL. By addressing these operational challenges, ddRT-LAMP can become a more effective tool for viral detection and quantification in clinical diagnostics.</p>","PeriodicalId":18560,"journal":{"name":"Microsystems & Nanoengineering","volume":"11 1","pages":"137"},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12246061/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144608745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}