Fabrication and characterization of a microporous polymeric micro-filter for isolation of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts

A rapid and effective method to concentrate Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts present in large volumes of drinking water into smaller volumes is critical for accurate detection and quantification of C. parvum oocysts from drinking water. Filtration-based concentration techniques have been widely used to recover C. parvum oocysts into a small volume for downstream analysis. We present a rapid method for fabrication of a polymeric micro-filter with ordered pores and a smooth surface using UV lithography and MEMS technology. To support the filter membrane, we also developed a technique for integrated fabrication of a support mesh. We demonstrated that the filter is able to isolate the oocysts which can be further detected using fluorescent techniques. Sample loading and back-flushing using the micro-filter resulted in 95-99% recovery with a concentration ratio above 2000 of the spiked C. parvum oocysts, which showed significantly improved performance compared with current commercial filters.