Microfluidic system for the identification of bacterial pathogens causing urinary tract infections

Holger Becker, Nadine Hlawatsch, Tommy Haraldsson, Wouter van der Wijngaart, Anders Lind, Surbi Malhotra-Kumar, Agata Turlej-Rogacka, Herman Goossens, Bonnie L. Gray, Holger Becker
2015 Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XIII  
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections and pose a significant healthcare burden. The growing trend in antibiotic resistance makes it mandatory to develop diagnostic kits which allow not only the determination of a pathogen but also the antibiotic resistances. We have developed a microfluidic cartridge which takes a direct urine sample, extracts the DNA, performs an amplification using batch-PCR and flows the sample over a microarray which is printed into
more » ... microchannel for fluorescence detection. The cartridge is injection-molded out of COP and contains a set of two-component injection-molded rotary valves to switch between input and to isolate the PCR chamber during thermocycling. The hybridization probes were spotted directly onto a functionalized section of the outlet microchannel. We have been able to successfully perform PCR of E.coli in urine in this chip and perform a fluorescence detection of PCR products. An upgraded design of the cartridge contains the buffers and reagents in blisters stored on the chip.
doi:10.1117/12.2077644 fatcat:or4mggrm3ffahf4jzoil2bhjue