Predicting Viruses Accurately by a Multiplex Microfluidic Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Chip

Multiplex gene assay is a valuable molecular tool not only in academic science but also in clinical diagnostics. Multiplex PCR assays, DNA microarrays, and various nanotechnology-based methods are examples of major techniques developed for analyzing multiple genes; none of these, however, are suitable for point-of-care diagnostics, especially in resource limited settings. In this report, we describe an octopus like multiplex microfluidic loop mediated isothermal amplification (m mu LAMP) assay for the rapid analysis of multiple genes in the point-of-care format and provide a robust approach for predicting viruses. This assay with the ability: of analyzing multiple genes qualitatively and quantitatively is highly specific, operationally simple, and cost/time-effective with the detection limit of less than 10 copies/mu L in 2 mu L quantities of sample within 0.5 h. We successfully developed a m mu LAMP chip for differentiating three human influenza A substrains and identifying eight important swine viruses.