Integrative volumetric bar-chart chip for rapid and quantitative point-of-care detection of myocardial infarction biomarkers

Here we developed an integrated volumetric bar-chart chip (IV-Chip) technology by integration of our previous V-Chip with a fluid handling design to generate an instrument-free POC device and greatly reduce the detection time and effort. The IV-Chip test requires only 1 μL of serum separated from finger-prick blood. The serum sample and ELISA reagents are directly loaded into the device using a pipette, and a shift of the two layers of the device generates homogeneous liquid segments in the microfluidic channel. Under vacuum pressure generated by a regular syringe, the segments flow into the ELISA wells in sequence and a sandwich ELISA reaction takes place. As a result of the automated washing and reacting strategy, the IV-Chip allows rapid tests for myocardial infarction biomarkers, and turnaround time is greatly reduced to 15 min. The specificity and accuracy of quantitative multiplex detection of MI biomarkers CK-MB, troponin I and myoglobin, are 87.5% and 95.8%, respectively.