A paper-based microfluidic Dot-ELISA system with smartphone for the detection of influenza A

An automated, portable, and integrated paperbased microfluidic system has been developed for influenza A detection with smartphone at point-of-care (POC) settings. The low-cost paper-based microfluidic chip consists of a reagent storage and reaction modules. The storage module, which consists of a couple of reagent chambers with dispensation channels, is responsible for reagent storage and release. The reaction module consists of an absorbent pad and a nitrocellulose (NC) membrane which is functionalized with specific monoclonal antibodies on a test and control spots for immunoassay detection. Microfluidic Dot-ELISA is performed when the dispensed reagent flows through the NC membrane at a controllable speed and reaches the absorbent pad because of the gravity and capillary force without active pumping. A smartphone is used to capture image from the NC membrane with its own camera and process the image with an intelligent algorithm of custom application software which is developed with Java. With a smartphone, the detection result can be displayed and transmitted to other medical agencies if necessary. Experimental results show that, compared with the traditional methods, more convenient and efficient influenza A detection can be achieved with the developed paper-based POC microfluidic chip with the assistance of smartphone.