Microfluidic platform for direct capture and analysis of airborne Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Airborne Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the main source of tuberculosis infection, which is known as one of the worldwide infectious diseases. Direct capture and analysis of airborne Mycobacterium tuberculosis is essential for disease prevention and control. At present, low concentration of pathogens directly collected from the air is the major drawback for rapid analysis. Herein an integrated microfluidic system capable of airborne Mycobacterium tuberculosis capture, enrichment, and rapid bacteriological immunoassay was developed. The whole detection time was decreased to less than 50 min including 20 min of enrichment and 30 min of immunoreaction analysis. It had the advantages of low detection limit, fast detection speed, and low reagent consumption compared with conventional techniques, showing the potential to become a new airborne pathogen analysis platform.