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Updated: Feb 24, 2026
Fully Automated Centrifugal Microfluidic Device for Ultrasensitive Protein Detection from Whole Blood
Published on: April 16, 2016
Detection of C-reactive protein on an integrated microfluidic system by utilizing field-effect transistors and
Wei-Chieh Kao1, Yen-Wen Chen2, Chia-Ho Chu2
1Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan.
Insights
This study presents a novel microfluidic system for early cardiovascular disease (CVD) diagnosis. It utilizes aptamer-field-effect-transistor (FET) biosensors to detect C-reactive protein (CRP), a key CVD biomarker.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Biotechnology
- Analytical Chemistry
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading cause of global mortality, necessitating early diagnostic methods.
- C-reactive protein (CRP) is a crucial biomarker for assessing CVD risk.
- Current diagnostic methods may require improvement in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and sample volume.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an integrated microfluidic system for the sensitive and specific detection of C-reactive protein (CRP).
- To enable early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) using aptamer-field-effect-transistor (FET) biosensors.
- To demonstrate the feasibility of aptamer-FET assays within a microfluidic platform with minimal reagent consumption.
Main Methods:
- Integration of CRP-specific aptamers and field-effect-transistor (FET) devices within a microfluidic chip.
- Development of a novel method to prevent liquid leakage during FET device packaging in the microfluidic system.
- Automated recognition and detection of CRP using the developed aptamer-FET microfluidic system.
Main Results:
- Sensitive detection of CRP was successfully demonstrated using the integrated microfluidic system.
- The aptamer-FET assay achieved a detection range for CRP from 0.625 mg/l to 10.000 mg/l.
- The system demonstrated low reagent and sample consumption (approximately 5 μm).
Conclusions:
- The developed aptamer-FET assay on an integrated microfluidic system represents a significant advancement for CVD diagnostics.
- This technology offers a promising platform for the early and sensitive detection of cardiovascular disease biomarkers.
- The novel microfluidic packaging method ensures reliable performance of FET devices in biosensing applications.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) cause more than 17 × 106 deaths worldwide on a yearly basis. Early diagnosis of CVDs is therefore of great need. The C-reactive protein (CRP) is an important biomarker for analyzing the risks of CVDs. In this work, CRP-specific aptamers with high sensitivity and specificity and field-effect-transistor (FET) devices were used to recognize and detect CRP by using an integrated microfluidic system automatically while consuming less volumes of reagents and samples (about 5 μm). In order to package the FET device into the microfluidic chip, a new method to prevent liquid leakage was proposed. Sensitive detection of CRP has been demonstrated on the developed microfluidic system. It is the first time that aptamer-FET assays could be realized on an integrated microfluidic system. Experimental results showed that the aptamer-FET assay was capable of detecting CRP with concentrations ranging from 0.625 mg/l to 10.000 mg/l, which may be promising for early diagnosis of CVDs.
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