서강대학교

초록/요약

Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) have become promising tools offering various analytical applications for chemical, biological and diagnostic assays, especially as point-of-care (POC) testing devices. Compared to traditional microfluidic devices, μPADs offer notable advantages, such as cost-effective, easy fabrication, disposable, and portable, because the paper is the most abundant organic material on Earth and its functionalization by using lots of techniques with various nanomaterials is so simple. Development of μPADs provides better engineering of POC sensing and testing devices for reducing fabrication cost, increasing detection sensitivity, realizing a wild range of assay protocols and to the end promising toward high-throughput diagnostic screening devices. Herein, after we massively reviewed developments of μPADs especially for POC devices, we showed our own novel methods for fabrication of the comprehensive paper-based lab-on-a chips (LOCs) equipped with biosensors: electrochemical sensors (ECSs) and colorimetric sensors, and paper-based microfluidic devices: paper-based continuous-flow microfluidic devices (p-CMFs) and paper-based digital microfluidic devices (p-DMFs). The fabricated biosensors were successfully used to detect various diagnostic analytes such as glucose and methyl paraoxon (MPO) that are the critical clinical indicators for diabetes and nerve agent simulant, respectively. The fabricated microfluidic devices were used to handle fluid samples in programmable way and capable for usages of a wide range of analytical assay protocols both single-step and multiple-step assay. Our approaches opened an avenue for affordable μPADs for POC testing for medical screening especially for resource-limited settings.