Dissolvable fluidic time delays for programming multi-step assays in instrument-free paper diagnostics.

ABSTRACT: Lateral flow tests (LFTs) are an ingenious format for rapid and easy-to-use diagnostics, but they are fundamentally limited to assay chemistries that can be reduced to a single chemical step. In contrast, most laboratory diagnostic assays rely on multiple timed steps carried out by a human or a machine. Here, we use dissolvable sugar applied to paper to create programmable flow delays and present a paper network topology that uses these time delays to program automated multi-step fluidic protocols. Solutions of sucrose at different concentrations (10-70% of saturation) were added to paper strips and dried to create fluidic time delays spanning minutes to nearly an hour. A simple folding card format employing sugar delays was shown to automate a four-step fluidic process initiated by a sing

SUBMITTER: Lutz B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3710703 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature