State-of-the-Art Lab-on-Chip Technology in Canada

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B:Biology and Biomedicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 June 2021) | Viewed by 4546

Special Issue Editor

Electrical Engineering Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Interests: lab-on-chip; microfluidics; instrumentation; sensors; microfabrication

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Canadian researchers have played a central role in advancing core-microfabrication technologies and their integration into fully formed and operation sensors. Applications range from the energy sector, to ocean science, to biomedical instrumentation. Canada’s unique geographical size and population spread has inspired lab-on-a-chip development efforts with a special emphasis on in situ environmental testing and enablement of point-of-care healthcare access in remote communities. Canada has progressed large-scale screening approaches, demonstrated innovation in digital and centrifugal microfluidic systems, as well as performed research into complex fundamentals at the micro- and nanoscales around fluid transport, phase behaviour and light–matter interactions on such chips. Recently, the intersection of artificial intelligence research with lab-on-chip platforms has yielded exciting end-to-end systems capable of generating vast datasets. To capture the vibrant and diverse research efforts occurring in Canada, Micromachines is excited to offer a Special Issue on State-of-the-Art Lab-on-a-Chip Technology in Canada. Micromachines is dedicated to maintaining fast publication, yet rigorous peer review—a first decision provided to authors within approximately 13.5 days after submission. We invite interested authors from Canadian Universities, Institutions and Companies to submit their latest developments for consideration in this special edition by 1 June 2021.

Prof. Dr. Vincent J. Sieben
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • lab-on-chip
  • microfluidics
  • instrumentation
  • sensors
  • microfabrication

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 1959 KiB  
Article
Comparison of a Miniaturized Cassette PCR System with a Commercially Available Platform for Detecting Escherichia coli in Beef Carcass Swabs
by Dammika P. Manage, Jana Lauzon, Linda M. Pilarski, Patrick M. Pilarski and Lynn M. McMullen
Micromachines 2021, 12(8), 959; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12080959 - 13 Aug 2021
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Abstract
Detection sensitivity of cassette PCR was compared with a commercial BAX® PCR system for detection of eae and stx genes in Escherichia coli from 806 beef carcass swabs. Cassette PCR detects multiple genetic markers on multiple samples using PCR and melt curve [...] Read more.
Detection sensitivity of cassette PCR was compared with a commercial BAX® PCR system for detection of eae and stx genes in Escherichia coli from 806 beef carcass swabs. Cassette PCR detects multiple genetic markers on multiple samples using PCR and melt curve analysis. Conventional PCR served as a gold standard. Overall, for positive and negative concordance, cassette PCR was 98.6% concordant with conventional PCR, and BAX PCR was 65.4% concordant. Of 806 beef carcass swabs, 339 by cassette PCR and 84 by BAX PCR harbored eae + stx+E. coli. For BAX PCR reactions, 84% of eae+ swabs, 79% of stx+ swabs, and 86% of eae + stx+ swabs were also detected by cassette PCR. For cassette PCR reactions, 457 swabs were eae+ with only 117 scored as eae+ using BAX PCR for 26% positive concordance. For stx primers, cassette PCR scored 480 samples as stx+ but only 215 samples were stx+ by BAX PCR, giving 45% positive concordance. Importantly, cassette PCR scored 339 swabs as harboring eae + stx+ E. coli, but BAX PCR detected only 71 positives giving only 21% positive concordance, with many false negatives. Cassette PCR is a highly sensitive method for detection of STEC genes in E. coli found in carcass swabs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Lab-on-Chip Technology in Canada)
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19 pages, 2617 KiB  
Article
An Energy Efficient Thermally Regulated Optical Spectroscopy Cell for Lab-on-Chip Devices: Applied to Nitrate Detection
by Benjamin J. Murphy, Edward A. Luy, Katerina L. Panzica, Gregory Johnson and Vincent J. Sieben
Micromachines 2021, 12(8), 861; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12080861 - 22 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2368
Abstract
Reagent-based colorimetric analyzers often heat the fluid under analysis for improved reaction kinetics, whilst also aiming to minimize energy use per measurement. Here, a novel method of conserving heat energy on such microfluidic systems is presented. Our design reduces heat transfer to the [...] Read more.
Reagent-based colorimetric analyzers often heat the fluid under analysis for improved reaction kinetics, whilst also aiming to minimize energy use per measurement. Here, a novel method of conserving heat energy on such microfluidic systems is presented. Our design reduces heat transfer to the environment by surrounding the heated optical cell on four sides with integral air pockets, thereby realizing an insulated and suspended bridge structure. Our design was simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics and verified in a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) device. We evaluate the effectiveness of the insulated design by comparing it to a non-insulated cell. For temperatures up to 55 °C, the average power consumption was reduced by 49.3% in the simulation and 40.2% in the experiment. The designs were then characterized with the vanadium and Griess reagent assay for nitrate at 35 °C. Nitrate concentrations from 0.25 µM to 50 µM were tested and yielded the expected linear relationship with a limit of detection of 20 nM. We show a reduction in energy consumption from 195 J to 119 J per 10 min measurement using only 4 µL of fluid. Efficient heating on-chip will have broad applicability to numerous colorimetric assays. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Lab-on-Chip Technology in Canada)
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