Lab-on-a-chip for ultrasensitive detection of carbofuran by enzymatic inhibition with replacement of enzyme using magnetic beads.

In this paper an ultrasensitive method to determine toxicity due to pesticides in a glass lab-on-a-chip by means of enzymatic inhibition of acetylcholinesterase immobilised on magnetic beads is described. The reproducible insertion of a controlled amount of enzyme-coupled magnetic beads inside the chip channel and their immobilisation in a capture region with the aid of a magnetic field has been optimised. This procedure enables the easy renewal of the biosensing material after each determination in a highly reproducible manner.

Pesticide determination by enzymatic inhibition and amperometric detection in a low-temperature cofired ceramics microsystem.

Among the several fabrication techniques used to construct microflow systems, the low-temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC) technology, taking advantage of its multilayer approach, is one of the most versatile ones. It permits the integration of several unitary operations of an analytical process in a modular or monolithic way. Moreover, due to its perfect compatibility with screen-printing techniques, it also permits the integration of electronic components used to control the whole system setup.