3D printed microfluidic devices with immunoaffinity monoliths for extraction of preterm birth biomarkers

Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as birth before the 37th week of pregnancy and results in 15 million early deliveries worldwide every year. Presently, there is no clinical test to determine PTB risk; however, a panel of nine biomarkers found in maternal blood serum has predictive power for a subsequent PTB. A significant step in creating a clinical diagnostic for PTB is designing an automated method to extract and purify these biomarkers from blood serum. Here, microfluidic devices with 45 μm × 50 μm cross-section channels were 3D printed with a built-in polymerization window to allow a glycidyl methacrylate monolith to be site-specifically polymerized within the channel. This monolith was then used as a solid support to attach antibodies for PTB biomarker extraction. Using these functionalized monoliths, it was possible to selectively extract a PTB biomarker, ferritin, from buffer and a human blood serum matrix. This is the first demonstration of monolith formation in a 3D printed microfluidic device for immunoaffinity extraction. Notably, this work is a crucial first step toward developing a 3D printed microfluidic clinical diagnostic for PTB risk.