Construction of Multiplexed Assays on Single Anisotropic Particles Using Microfluidics

Area of Science:

• Microfluidics and Nanotechnology
• Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Developing microscale multiplexing strategies faces challenges in functional object deployment and signal decoding on anisotropic microcarriers.
• Existing methods struggle with high-density signal analysis and precise functionalization of microcarriers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel microfluidic method for fabricating architecture-marked anisotropic particles.
• To enable designable, label-free multiplexed assays using these particles.
• To demonstrate the potential for detecting analytes and studying cellular interactions.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing fluid assembly and rapid in-air cross-linking to create particles with multiple functional regions and unique architecture identifiers.
• Implementing an addressing mechanism based on the marked architecture for profiling embedded label-free objects.
• Mapping a reference architecture to target particles for accurate analysis.

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated architecture-marked anisotropic particles with distinct functional regions and identifiers.
• Demonstrated label-free detection of microRNAs using the developed particles.
• Showcased the utility of these particles in studying cell interactions.

Conclusions:

• Architecture-marked anisotropic particles offer a new paradigm for single-entity assays.
• This microfluidic approach facilitates designable multiplexed assays in a label-free manner.
• The technology holds promise for advanced microscale multiplexed applications in diagnostics and research.