Comprehensive integration of homogeneous bioassays via centrifugo-pneumatic cascading.

This work for the first time presents the full integration and automation concept for a range of bioassays leveraged by cascading a centrifugo-pneumatic valving scheme to sequentially move several liquids through shared channel segments for multi-step sample preparation into the detection zone. This novel centrifugo-pneumatic liquid handling significantly simplifies system manufacture by obviating the need for complex surface functionalization procedures or hybrid material integration, as it is common in conventional valving methods such as capillary burst valves or sacrificial valves. Based on the centrifugo-pneumatic valving scheme, this work presents a toolkit of operational elements implementing liquid loading/transfer, metering, mixing and sedimentation in a microstructured polymer disc.

Molecularly imprinted polymers.

Molecular imprinting is a process that allows for the synthesis of artificial receptors for a given target molecule based on synthetic polymers. The target molecule acts as a template around which interacting and cross-linking monomers are arranged and co-polymerized to form a cast-like shell. In essence, a molecular memory is imprinted in the polymer, which is now capable of selectively binding the target.

Patterning nanostructured, synthetic, polymeric receptors by simultaneous projection photolithography, nanomolding, and molecular imprinting.

Microscope projection photolithography is combined with nanomolding and molecular imprinting for the fast microfabrication of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) arrays in the form of micrometric islands of nanofilaments. Dot diameters from 70-90 μm are easily obtained using a 10× objective and a photomask carrying the desired pattern. The dots are composed of parallel nanofilaments of a high aspect ratio, 150 nm in diameter and several micrometers in length, which are obtained through a nanomolding procedure on porous alumina.

Single step patterning of molecularly imprinted polymers for large scale fabrication of microbiochips.

We use photolithography to pattern molecularly imprinted polymers for the wafer-scale production of biochips. We are able to produce multiplexed, spatially resolved micrometer-sized features of functional materials capable of molecular recognition. Using a fluorescent probe, dansyl-L-Phe, we show specific analyte binding to MIP patterns imprinted with boc-L-Phe, by fluorescence microscopy.