Integration of Microfluidics, Sensing, and Data Processing for Automated Biological Assays

The development of an electrochemical biosensor capable of detecting concentrations of target molecules from a biological sample is often complex, time consuming, and requires a high degree of selectivity and affordability. This challenge is particularly significant when only a limited number of devices and samples are available for testing. This work presents a tool that automates and controls an integrated system comprising electrochemical measurement system, a microfluidics platform, and post-processing. A proof-of-concept application of this system is demonstrated through the development of a pesticide detection platform. A typical sequence of operations to perform the realization of this detection system might include an electro-deposition phase to form binding sites for the molecule of interest usually followed by multiple washing steps and incubation steps before the test can be conducted on the device. These steps require several hours of manual work, resulting in a very time-consuming process in which manual control could introduce high variability and errors. By automating the entire process, the system allows users to simply configure the list of operations, which the platform then performs autonomously. The system also supports conducting large number of electrochemical measurements in series and of different types, displaying them in different ways, and finally allows the user to classify, organize automatically, and possibly process the result. This simplifies the work for the user by reducing workload and minimize potential human errors. The resulting system has been applied to a real case study, involving the detection of cyromazine, a pesticide used in the agri-food industry. If unchecked, cyromazine can pose health risks, including kidney damage highlighting the importance of precise and reliable detection.