Development of an AC electrokinetics-based immunoassay system for on-site serodiagnosis of infectious diseases

This paper presents a lab-chip immunoassay system that is based on AC electrothermal effect. It uses a poly (dimethylsiloxane) based microfluidic cartridge as the disposable immunoreactor, on which key processes such as reagent delivery, incubation and washing are performed using low voltage AC signals. A low cost, reconfigurable detection module is constructed based on light emitting diode induced fluorescence. Along with the employed AC electrothermal effect, the developed diagnostic system has demonstrated a much shorter incubation time than conventional pressure driven flow system. A tenfold acceleration in detection is achieved while safely differentiating between the positive and negative primary antibodies with large margin. Other merits of this immunoassay system include portability, rapid detection and low reagent consumption.