Digital Microfluidic qPCR Cartridge for SARS-CoV-2 Detection

oleh: Kuan-Lun Ho, Hong-Yu Liao, Helene Minyi Liu, Yen-Wen Lu, Pin-Kuan Yeh, Justin Yu Chang, Shih-Kang Fan

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-01-01

Deskripsi

Point-of-care (POC) tests capable of individual health monitoring, transmission reduction, and contact tracing are especially important in a pandemic such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We develop a disposable POC cartridge that can be mass produced to detect the SARS-CoV-2 N gene through real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) based on digital microfluidics (DMF). Several critical parameters are studied and improved, including droplet volume consistency, temperature uniformity, and fluorescence intensity linearity on the designed DMF cartridge. The qPCR results showed high accuracy and efficiency for two primer-probe sets of N1 and N2 target regions of the SARS-CoV-2 N gene on the DMF cartridge. Having multiple droplet tracks for qPCR, the presented DMF cartridge can perform multiple tests and controls at once.