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Updated: Apr 17, 2026
09:43
Microfluidic Chip Fabrication and Method to Detect Influenza
Published on: March 26, 2013
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Heat-actuated valve implementation in a point-of-care, paper-based microfluidic device for infectious disease
Kevin P Jiang1, Steven Bennett1, Paul Yager1
1Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
Plos One
|April 15, 2026
Summary
This study introduces affordable, thermally-actuated valves for paper-based microfluidic devices. These valves enable precise fluid control for nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) at the point-of-care, facilitating disease detection.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Analytical Chemistry
- Materials Science
Background:
- Paper-based microfluidic devices offer potential for point-of-care diagnostics but face challenges in fluidic control and sample delivery.
- Automating complex assays like nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) in resource-limited settings requires simple, reliable valving solutions without advanced instrumentation.
- Existing solutions often lack affordability, robustness, or the ability to prevent contamination, hindering widespread adoption of paper-based diagnostics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design and integrate adaptable, thermally-actuated valves for paper-based microfluidic devices.
- To enable precise fluidic movement and separation of chemical processing steps for NAATs.
- To develop affordable, durable, and easy-to-manufacture valves suitable for point-of-care applications.
Main Methods:
- Development of two distinct thermally-actuated valve designs with varying material compositions and fabrication methods.
- Integration of these valves into paper-based microfluidic devices for controlled fluidic pathways.
- Demonstration of valve functionality in enabling reverse-transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) reactions.
Main Results:
- Successful design and integration of two types of thermally-actuated valves for paper-based devices.
- Demonstrated precise fluidic control, enabling sequential processing steps for NAATs.
- Validated the use of the valves for RT-LAMP detection of RNA/DNA biomarkers for COVID and Flu A from nasal swabs.
Conclusions:
- Thermally-actuated valves provide an affordable and simple solution for fluidic control in paper-based microfluidic devices.
- These valves facilitate the automation of complex molecular assays, such as RT-LAMP, for point-of-care diagnostics.
- The developed valves show promise for enabling rapid detection of respiratory infectious diseases in diverse settings.
