The objective of this research is to develop integrated disposable microfluidic systems for fluorescence-based assays for point-of-care diagnostics and point-of-use environmental applications. The approach will be to combine microfluidic chips with the excitation light and detector using organic light emitters and organic photovoltaics into a single compact and economical medical assay tool. Integrated filtering which is necessary for fluorescence will be done using polarization rather than spectral filtering. The integrated device will be independent of wavelength and is expected to be used with multiple fluorescent dyes for simultaneous detection. This will miniaturize and integrate the analysis and sample manipulation capabilities.
The intellectual merit of this work are in the integration of organic photonics and biomedical microfluidics to realize an economical device with integrated microfluidics, organic excitation sources, and organic detectors, for compact, disposable, and quantitative fluorescence based assays. These systems would replace laboratory-based analysis using fixed, specialized microscopes, by substituting compact, stand-alone devices using inexpensive light emitters and detectors made from small-molecule organics and polymers.
Broader impacts include the widespread availability of economical quantitative analysis system for detection of low levels of analytes on-site with applications to medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, and homeland defense. Undergraduate students from under-represented groups will be recruited through our universities Rowe Center for Women and the Emerging Ethnic Engineers program and funded through the REU program. Material developed will be incorporated into our ongoing course on ?Biosensors and BioMEMS? which focuses on microfluidic sensors and systems for biomedical and environmental applications.
