Digital Microfluidic Platform to Maximize Diagnostic Tests with Low Sample Volumes from Newborns and Pediatric Patients
“Children are not tiny adults” is an adage commonly used in pediatrics to emphasize the fact that children often have different physiological responses to sickness and trauma compared to adults. However, despite widespread acceptance of this concept, diagnostic blood testing is a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Diagnostics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/10/1/21 |
| _version_ | 1828274669927530496 |
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| author | Rama S. Sista Rainer Ng Miriam Nuffer Michael Basmajian Jacob Coyne Jennifer Elderbroom Daniel Hull Kathryn Kay Maithri Krishnamurthy Christopher Roberts Daniel Wu Adam D. Kennedy Rajendra Singh Vijay Srinivasan Vamsee K. Pamula |
| author_facet | Rama S. Sista Rainer Ng Miriam Nuffer Michael Basmajian Jacob Coyne Jennifer Elderbroom Daniel Hull Kathryn Kay Maithri Krishnamurthy Christopher Roberts Daniel Wu Adam D. Kennedy Rajendra Singh Vijay Srinivasan Vamsee K. Pamula |
| author_sort | Rama S. Sista |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | “Children are not tiny adults” is an adage commonly used in pediatrics to emphasize the fact that children often have different physiological responses to sickness and trauma compared to adults. However, despite widespread acceptance of this concept, diagnostic blood testing is an excellent example of clinical care that is not yet customized to the needs of children, especially newborns. Cumulative blood loss resulting from clinical testing does not typically impact critically ill adult patients, but can quickly escalate in children, leading to iatrogenic anemia and related comorbidities. Moreover, the tests prioritized for rapid, near-patient testing in adults are not always the most clinically relevant tests for children or newborns. This report describes the development of a digital microfluidic testing platform and associated clinical assays purposely curated to address current shortcomings in pediatric laboratory testing by using microliter volumes (<50 µL) of samples. The automated platform consists of a small instrument and single-use cartridges, which contain all reagents necessary to prepare the sample and perform the assay. Electrowetting technology is used to precisely manipulate nanoliter-sized droplets of samples and reagents inside the cartridge. To date, we have automated three disparate types of assays (biochemical assays, immunoassays, and molecular assays) on the platform and have developed over two dozen unique tests, each with important clinical application to newborns and pediatric patients. Cell lysis, plasma preparation, magnetic bead washing, thermocycling, incubation, and many other essential functions were all performed on the cartridge without any user intervention. The resulting assays demonstrate performance comparable to standard clinical laboratory assays and are economical due to the reduced hands-on effort required for each assay and lower overall reagent consumption. These capabilities allow a wide range of assays to be run simultaneously on the same cartridge using significantly reduced sample volumes with results in minutes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:38:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f38eed43c4f04aaf896338d461a2a5e9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4418 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:38:52Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diagnostics |
| spelling | doaj.art-f38eed43c4f04aaf896338d461a2a5e92022-12-22T02:57:49ZengMDPI AGDiagnostics2075-44182020-01-011012110.3390/diagnostics10010021diagnostics10010021Digital Microfluidic Platform to Maximize Diagnostic Tests with Low Sample Volumes from Newborns and Pediatric PatientsRama S. Sista0Rainer Ng1Miriam Nuffer2Michael Basmajian3Jacob Coyne4Jennifer Elderbroom5Daniel Hull6Kathryn Kay7Maithri Krishnamurthy8Christopher Roberts9Daniel Wu10Adam D. Kennedy11Rajendra Singh12Vijay Srinivasan13Vamsee K. Pamula14Baebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USABaebies, Inc., PO Box 14403, Durham, NC 27709, USA“Children are not tiny adults” is an adage commonly used in pediatrics to emphasize the fact that children often have different physiological responses to sickness and trauma compared to adults. However, despite widespread acceptance of this concept, diagnostic blood testing is an excellent example of clinical care that is not yet customized to the needs of children, especially newborns. Cumulative blood loss resulting from clinical testing does not typically impact critically ill adult patients, but can quickly escalate in children, leading to iatrogenic anemia and related comorbidities. Moreover, the tests prioritized for rapid, near-patient testing in adults are not always the most clinically relevant tests for children or newborns. This report describes the development of a digital microfluidic testing platform and associated clinical assays purposely curated to address current shortcomings in pediatric laboratory testing by using microliter volumes (<50 µL) of samples. The automated platform consists of a small instrument and single-use cartridges, which contain all reagents necessary to prepare the sample and perform the assay. Electrowetting technology is used to precisely manipulate nanoliter-sized droplets of samples and reagents inside the cartridge. To date, we have automated three disparate types of assays (biochemical assays, immunoassays, and molecular assays) on the platform and have developed over two dozen unique tests, each with important clinical application to newborns and pediatric patients. Cell lysis, plasma preparation, magnetic bead washing, thermocycling, incubation, and many other essential functions were all performed on the cartridge without any user intervention. The resulting assays demonstrate performance comparable to standard clinical laboratory assays and are economical due to the reduced hands-on effort required for each assay and lower overall reagent consumption. These capabilities allow a wide range of assays to be run simultaneously on the same cartridge using significantly reduced sample volumes with results in minutes.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/10/1/21pediatricslaboratorydigital microfluidicselectrowettingnanoliterneonatal intensive care unit (nicu)bilirubinglucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenasealbuminthyroidinsulincreatininecytomegalovirus |
| spellingShingle | Rama S. Sista Rainer Ng Miriam Nuffer Michael Basmajian Jacob Coyne Jennifer Elderbroom Daniel Hull Kathryn Kay Maithri Krishnamurthy Christopher Roberts Daniel Wu Adam D. Kennedy Rajendra Singh Vijay Srinivasan Vamsee K. Pamula Digital Microfluidic Platform to Maximize Diagnostic Tests with Low Sample Volumes from Newborns and Pediatric Patients Diagnostics pediatrics laboratory digital microfluidics electrowetting nanoliter neonatal intensive care unit (nicu) bilirubin glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase albumin thyroid insulin creatinine cytomegalovirus |
| title | Digital Microfluidic Platform to Maximize Diagnostic Tests with Low Sample Volumes from Newborns and Pediatric Patients |
| title_full | Digital Microfluidic Platform to Maximize Diagnostic Tests with Low Sample Volumes from Newborns and Pediatric Patients |
| title_fullStr | Digital Microfluidic Platform to Maximize Diagnostic Tests with Low Sample Volumes from Newborns and Pediatric Patients |
| title_full_unstemmed | Digital Microfluidic Platform to Maximize Diagnostic Tests with Low Sample Volumes from Newborns and Pediatric Patients |
| title_short | Digital Microfluidic Platform to Maximize Diagnostic Tests with Low Sample Volumes from Newborns and Pediatric Patients |
| title_sort | digital microfluidic platform to maximize diagnostic tests with low sample volumes from newborns and pediatric patients |
| topic | pediatrics laboratory digital microfluidics electrowetting nanoliter neonatal intensive care unit (nicu) bilirubin glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase albumin thyroid insulin creatinine cytomegalovirus |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/10/1/21 |
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