UC Santa Cruz

Biosensor technologies have enormous potential in the field of biomedical diagnostics. Despite this, certain barriers have prevented the widespread application of existing biodiagnostic technologies. The limitations include the requirements of high-end, expensive, and complicated laboratory instruments, as well as the lengthy laboratory procedures that may cause error on the part of the user. I have developed an Automated Portable Detection Platform for Point of Care Diagnostics to overcome these limitations. This platform includes a custom microfluidic Lab-On-Chip (LOC) device capable of performing point-of-care diagnostics, which will be demonstrated by performing enzyme-linked immunoassay, ELISA, tests. Using a low-cost pump and valves helped create a pneumatic system for a contactless flow between solutions in a microfluidic LOC device. The platform is relatively inexpensive and much more compact than other equipment that can be used to conduct similar tests. The automation is done via a user-friendly interface which could be accessed with a PC or Raspberry Pi microcomputer; here, a custom script may be entered to perform different functions and tests. This Automated Portable Detection Platform will be described in detail in this thesis, including its reliability and stability for precision control over the fluidic flow. In addition, data was collected and will be presented to demonstrate the abilities of this platform. Overall, this thesis will cover a significant step forward toward the adaptation of widespread point-of-care testing platforms in different clinical settings.