Lab-on-a-Chip Technology for Environmental Monitoring of Microorganisms

Improved environmental monitoring of microorganisms is currently an important issue, since traditional detection methods are costly and time consuming (often requiring 2-3 days). In contrast, microfluidic chip-based technologies provide promising alternatives. The presence of environmental contaminants, especially bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens and their toxins, is creating a major public health problem. The detection of microbial communities in environmental samples is the first step to recognizing these organisms and insuring health and safety against their infection. This review addresses both the existing and innovative technologies for the detection of pathogens present in the environmental samples. First, impacts and challenges related to pathogens in the environmental samples are discussed, and standard techniques for their identification are addressed. Next, the microfluidic technologies are introduced as an alternative strategy with a particular focus on the detection of environmental contaminants. Challenges that still need to be overcome are also discussed. The review concludes with a section on paper-based microfluidic device and a discussion on future prospects.