While healthcare access has increased globally in the last three decades¹, at least half the world still lacks access to essential healthcare services². For the ones that do have access, the high costs can often push them towards extreme poverty, bankruptcies, and homelessness. While there is a direct correlation between income equality and access to healthcare, another major reason that access to healthcare remains elusive to half the world population is because of the multiple dimensions that constitute healthcare – awareness and access to information about healthcare, access to health services such as hospital, ambulance, diagnostics, medicines, trained doctors and nurses, life-saving treatments, follow-ups among several others. Covering most or all of these aspects simultaneously at a location can often be a challenging task.

Diagnostics and Microfluidics

Next to health awareness and immunizations, diagnostics are among the front liners in health services. The majority of the downstream healthcare decisions (and therefore costs) are dependent on timely and accurate diagnosis. As our understandings of human physiology and pathology have evolved, so have the diagnostic tools. Unlike lab testing which involved collecting samples from patients and transporting them to a distant laboratory and waiting to learn the results, point-of-care (POC) diagnostics have made medical testing possible at patient’s location in a much-reduced timeframe thus expediting medical decisions.

Microfluidic technologies have played a critical role in the rapid evolution of POC devices in the health industry. They offer numerous advantages: lower costs, reduced sample volumes, faster turn-around times, user-friendliness, device portability and high-throughput screening(HTS). Low costs and portability make it possible to adapt them in settings with limited or non-existent healthcare infrastructure. User-friendliness, easier result interpretations (such as through colorimetric assays) make it an attractive option in settings with limited or no access to trained health care providers.

Several companies have now successfully introduced microfluidic POC testing devices into the market. Several products have now made it to pharmacy shelves such as pregnancy tests and glucose monitoring kits. The global market for microfluidics was valued at 8.28 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach up to USD 27.91 billion by 2023³. While the majority of the market for microfluidic devices is currently in developed countries, it is the developing countries where it can serve as a major game-changer. While cancers and cardiac diseases are the top killers in developed countries such as the US, infectious diseases, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis, are the leading cause of death in several developing nations. Current diagnostic procedures for these involve benchtop tests and assays with heavy reliability on instruments and reagents and are often time-consuming. With the focus shifting towards microfluidics, there have been several recent attempts to introduce microfluidics in developing nations. Several proof-of-concept studies have indeed shown that microfluidic POC devices can be a route to provide reliable and faster diagnostic services in these areas. Chin et al used a microfluidic device to detect HIV and syphilis in the Rwandan population using blood volumes as little as 1 μl and a turn-around time of 20 minutes⁴. Hugo et al. demonstrated the potential of a centrifugal microfluidic platform for POC diagnostic applications in South Africa⁵. Taylor et al showed the potential of PCR-on-chip device for malaria diagnosis among patient samples from Uganda⁶. Diagnostics For All, a non-profit started by Dr. George Whitesides and his group at Harvard, uses paper microfluidics for development of POC diagnostics for developing countries. Field studies have been conducted in Vietnam and Kenya⁷. Commercial companies that have microfluidic POC devices for infectious diseases include Alere, Trinity Biotech, and IMMY that use lateral flow immunoassay strips for the detection of diseases such as malaria, meningitis, filariasis, HIV, flu, and Legionnaire’s Disease. Alere, a market leader in this field, partners with several non-profits for the distribution of malaria and HIV testing POC kits in developing nations⁸.

Conclusion and future perspective

While enough studies and pilot projects have demonstrated the vast potential of microfluidics in the diagnosis of infectious diseases in a developing country, the target groups are way bigger than current reach of the microfluidic research and market. This calls for an action plan involving several stakeholders, such as the World Health Organization, governments, administrators, private companies, non-profits, and locals, to work in concert and collaborations. While mass-production will undoubtedly help meet the demands and lower the cost at the manufacturer and consumer ends, affordability will always remain a huge bottleneck in the widespread use of these devices in developing countries. Current efforts and successes have only been possible due to the involvement of non-profits. This issue further calls for bridging the gap between research and policy. Governments can play major roles here by introducing schemes and subsidies to increase the reach of the products.

There are innovations required on multiple fronts to tackle the issue of introducing microfluidic POC diagnostic devices to such a massive fraction of the world population. There is a need to ensure that material used for making these devices is readily available, safe, light-weight and well-suited for mass-production. The final devices also need to be handy and easy to transport. Technologies such as lab-on-a-drone⁹ need to be further advanced to ensure easy and wide distribution of these devices to remote areas. While the devices need to be user-friendly and must require minimal training, there should be provisions to store results and data for future use by integrating with everyday devices such as cell phones. Devices should also include multiple tests within the same setup to ensure high-throughput screening among populations plagued by multiple infections.

While the current issue at hand is focused on microfluidic-based affordable diagnostics for developing countries, microfluidics can play important roles even in health services downstream of diagnosis. Microfluidic organ-on-a-chip and human-on-a-chip platforms are promising technologies to advance precision medicines. Several drugs are known to have variable effects on different populations owing to genetic differences. Testing established drugs on organ-on-chip platforms based on cells from a certain sub-population can provide useful results in terms of predicting the safety of the introduction of drugs to that population. Furthermore, these platforms have also been touted as the future of novel drug development and toxicity testing.

While the field of microfluidics has now been around for 30 years, the technology still remains heavily confined to academia and basic research. Institutions and companies should now steer this field into practical real-world applications – providing healthcare access around the world being a major one due to the overwhelming size of the population that lacks basic healthcare. The low cost, low sample volumes, portability, reliability and faster turn-around times make it the most promising candidate for a tool that can bring diagnostics from bench to bedside.

References

<sup>1. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-05-global-healthcare-access-quality-.html

2. https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/13-12-2017-world-bank-and-who-half-the-world-lacks-access-to-essential-health-services-100-million-still-pushed-into-extreme-poverty-because-of-health-expenses

3. https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/microfluidics-market-1305.html

4. Chin, C. D. et al. Microfluidics-based diagnostics of infectious diseases in the developing world. Nat. Med. 17, 1015–1019 (2011).

5. Hugo, S., Land, K., Madou, M. & Kido, H. A centrifugal microfluidic platform for point-of-care diagnostic applications. S. Afr. J. Sci. 110, (2014).

6. Taylor, B. J. et al. A lab-on-chip for malaria diagnosis and surveillance. Malar. J. 13, 179 (2014).

7. http://dfa.org/

8. https://www.alere.com/en/home/about/corporate-responsibility.html

9. Priye, A. et al. Lab-on-a-Drone: Toward Pinpoint Deployment of Smartphone-Enabled Nucleic Acid-Based Diagnostics for Mobile Health Care. Anal. Chem. 88, 4651–4660 (2016)</sup>

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Vardhman Kumar

Vardhman is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. His work in Prof. Shyni Varghese’s lab involves the development of microfluidic platforms for understanding the biophysics of development and diseases.

• https://scholars.duke.edu/person/vardhman.kumar

The post Microfluidic Diagnostics for the Developing World appeared first on The MicroFluidic Circle.

Current technical advances, and financial predictions for scaling up, are keeping pace with each other. Both are equally varied, complex and wide-ranging. For example, some forecasts predict an increased demand for portable devices that promote the microfluidics market, by providing fast results and timely diagnoses. Reliable microfluidic methods have numerous applications in healthcare, because they make handling of fluids smoother and easier than in the past — an entirely viable alternative to customary lab techniques. However, the very same forecasts include the caution that the high price of regulatory approvals, and delays in developing nations, could simultaneously slow global growth within that market.

Although striking, myriad other advances will be heavily anchored to thorny cost obstacles too. One 2019 research design incorporates microfluidics-based methods to investigate membraneless organelles, and unveils the processes that link organelles with protein-aggregation diseases, including neurodegenerative conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease. Another new report covers spontaneous oscillations in microfluidic droplet networks: This 2019 development offers a better understanding of blood flow’s oscillations within microvascular networks.

In a 2019 Developmental Cell article, analysts conclude that microfluidic techniques provide precision tools for biology because they further “manipulation of biological specimens in entirely new ways.” These entirely new ways include “extraordinary spatiotemporal resolution, revealing mechanistic insights that would otherwise remain hidden.”In addition, gene expression research has put microfluidic devices to work, in pursuit of clarity.

A recent Trends in Biotechnology article describes microfluidics that has “revolutionized biotechnology assays. . . Combining deep learning (to analyze data) with microfluidics (to acquire data) represents an emerging opportunity in biotechnology that remains largely untapped.”

Simultaneously, insights about “largely untapped, new ways” are being tempered by practicality. For example, the titles of some recent studies answer the question, “What’s in a name?”:

• “Single-cell RNA-seq of rheumatoid arthritis synovial tissue using low-cost microfluidic instrumentation”
• “Printed low-cost microfluidic analytical devices based on a transparent substrate”
• “Low-Cost and Rapid-Production Microfluidic Electrochemical Double-Layer Capacitors for Fast and Sensitive Breast Cancer Diagnosis”
• “Impedimetric array in polymer microfluidic cartridge for low-cost point-of-care diagnostics”
• “Robust Sample Preparation on Low-Cost Microfluidic Biochips”
• And so on . . .

Where is the unknown and how will does one boldly go there? Or carefully go there? Or strategically go there?

The unknown is how costs will be controlled. Going there will mean “largely untapped, new ways” yoked to visionary pragmatism.

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Kathy Jean Schultz

Kathy Jean Schultz is a freelance medical science writer who focuses on medical innovations. She earned a Master’s Degree in Research Methodology from Hofstra University, and a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Long Island University. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Her articles about organoids include "Would you trust a 3-D printed mini organ to test your drugs?" and "Stem cells not only slow disease, they come with their own safety test".

• http://kathyjeanschultz.pressfolios.com/

The post Mapping Microfluidics’ Future: “Where is the Unknown and How Can We Boldly Go There?” appeared first on The MicroFluidic Circle.

Fig. 1. Global microfluidics market. Estimates of global market shares of microfluidics by economic region were estimated from GranViewResearch⁵.

In this global market, the In-Vitro diagnostics represent the largest portion of the microfluidic applications. Furthermore, the large North American market will continue to expand due to the increasing demand for Point-of-Care (POC) devices, many of which may be categorized as medical devices that can be covered by insurance companies. This can slowly be realized by quicker return on investments, the decline of manufacturing costs and further miniaturization of devices³. From these three advantages, miniaturization is key for the potential of microfluidics to become wearable POCs. For instance, microfluidic chips in laboratories are small devices that required large setups that include multiple pumps and syringes; thus, hindering their application as wearable devices. However, wearable devices will be based on non-continuous flow chips that do not need to be plugged to pumps. For example, pocket-size devices already exist to continuously monitor glucose in patients suffering from diabetes helping determine the correct time for insulin injections. The features of these type of devices can be extended to local monitoring/analysis and responsive drug administration. The type of processes that these devices can regulate is enzymatic reactions, detection of antibodies, cells or molecules⁶. Indeed, the prosperous future of microfluidics has attracted large corporations such as Roche, Becton Dickinson and Company and Abbott that are now leaders in Point-of-Care & Clinical and Veterinary diagnostics, with other major vendors such as Fluidigm Corp., Agilent Technologies Inc., Illumina, Inc., and Shimadzu³. Microfluidics also show potential in the cosmetic industry, for example, L’Oréal has recently released the first wearable microfluidics sensor capable of measuring pH for applications in aiding eczema and atopic dermatitis. The invention of microfluidic products starts from accomplishing proof-of-concept device which is later on an integration of different elements. Unquestionably, a steady increase in both scientific publications and patents have been seen filed proving that a genuine interest in developing new technologies exists (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Scientific publications and patents over time. A number of publications and filed patents were calculated from Google Scholar including the word “Microfluidics”.

Unfortunately, the number of microfluidics-based products remains truncated despite a large number of proof-of-concept research and patents. The fact that these are not turned into products fast enough can be attributed to several factors. In academia, microfluidics is still not widely known across scientific fields and their apparent complexity shadowing the advantages prevents other scientists from using them. Additionally, the costs of devices often exceed the benefits of a lab-on-chip. In industry, the initial high capital investments and costly reagents and materials are obvious bottlenecks. As of today, there are no microfluidic systems employed for large scale manufacturing or pharmaceutical products from such systems⁷. Microfluidic technology must be cost-effective and integrable within larger machines to be feasible before reaching industrial applications⁸. Therefore, the areas of opportunity are to foster plug-and-play devices with well-defined standards in which interfacing individual chips are straightforward. On one hand, microfluidic technology needs to integrate into larger and powerful platforms based on the application and the technical aspects required. On the other hand, wearable devices need to be further miniaturized and suitable application niches need to be identified. It is unmistakable that by handling small liquid samples, microfluidics offers an evident potential to lower cost and increase high-throughput applications across industries. In conclusion, the market forecasts of microfluidics are optimistic despite the seemingly slow introduction of new microfluidic products.

<sup>1. Whitesides, G. M. The Origins and the Future of Microfluidics. Nature 2006, 442 (7101), 368–373. doi.org/10.1038/nature05058.

2. Yetisen, A. K.; Volpatti, L. R. Patent Protection and Licensing in Microfluidics. Lab Chip 2014, 14 (13), 2217–2225. doi.org/10.1039/c4lc00399c.

3. Microfluidics Market – By Material (Ceramics, Polymers), By Components (Microfluidic Chips, Pumps, Needles), By Application (In-Vitro Diagnostics, Pharmaceutical Research, Drug Delivery) – World Forecasts to 2022; 2018.

4. Microfluidics Market by Application (Genomics, Proteomics, Capillary Electrophoresis, IVD (POC, Clinical Diagnostics), Drug Delivery, Microreactor, Lab Tests), Component (Chips, Pump, Needle), Material (Polymer, Glass, Silicon) – Global Forecast to 2023; 2018.

5. Microfluidics Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Application (Pharmaceutical, In Vitro Diagnostics, By Material, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 – 2024; 2018.

6. Bohr, A.; Colombo, S.; Jensen, H. Future of Microfluidics in Research and in the Market. Microfluid. Pharm. Appl.2019, 425–465. doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812659-2.00016-8.

7. Bohr, A.; Colombo, S.; Jensen, H. Future of Microfluidics in Research and in the Market. In Microfluidics for Pharmaceutical Applications; William Andrew Publishing, 2019; pp 425–465. doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812659-2.00016-8.

8. Zambrano, A. Why Hasn’t Microfluidics Reached Consumer Market despite a Huge Number of Academic Inventions and Publications during the Past 15 Years? Microfluidic Circle 2018, No. October.</sup>

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Adrian Zambrano

Adrian Zambrano is a scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Germany where he synthesizes protein/polymer scaffolds for micro-droplets and utilizes microfluidics for the encapsulation of enzymatic DNA replicators and other DNA-based assays. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Paris-Saclay/CNRS and B.Sc. in chemical engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno. His personal interests lie in the commercialization and development of high-throughput assays based on microfluidic technology.

• adrianzamphd@gmail.com
• https://sites.google.com/view/adrianzambrano/

The post Commercialisation Opportunities of Microfluidics as Miniaturized Wearable Devices appeared first on The MicroFluidic Circle.

The rising prevalence of lifestyle-related & infectious diseases and an increasing preference for self-testing are driving the global point-of-care diagnostics market. In addition, growing private investments and the availability of venture funding for the development of new products, coupled with government support for improving the adoption of POC devices, are further supporting the growth of the POC diagnostics market. The rising incidence and prevalence of various diseases, coupled with product miniaturization and the decentralization of healthcare, are the major factors that are expected to offer significant growth opportunities to players operating in the POC diagnostics market.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the cost of cancer treatment in the US was USD 125 billion in 2010; this is expected to reach USD 158 billion by 2020. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRFI), in 2012, there were an estimated 14.1 million new cancer cases worldwide; this figure increased to 17.5 million in 2015 and is expected to reach 24 million by 2035. The rising incidence of cancer is expected to increase the uptake of cancer-related diagnostic technologies. Similarly, the increasing incidence of other major chronic and infectious diseases, coupled with advancements in coagulation tests, blood gas electrolytes, hematology, urine chemistry, and cardiac markers, are creating new avenues for the growth of the POC diagnostics market. This, in turn, is expected to support the growth of the microfluidics market, as POC testing is the largest segment of the microfluidics market for in vitro diagnostics.

Significant return on investment

Microfluidics is proving an economical solution for screening samples against reagents when testing for toxicity or in research on biomarkers. Microfluidics significantly reduces the cost per test by reducing overall reagent consumption. Nine out of the top fifteen pharmaceutical firms, including Merck, Novartis, GSK, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Aventis, have adopted microfluidic-based micro-reactors to control parameters in chemical reactions and better understand and enhance the quality of production. While the initial investment in microfluidic devices is usually higher than that for their conventional counterparts, reductions in reagent consumption down the line make these devices highly economical in the long run.

Using microfluidics-based devices can accelerate drug discovery as these devices assist in finding new and promising drug targets. This decreases the cost of drug discovery and development. Currently, the majority of pharmaceutical companies and governments across developed and developing countries are focusing on cost-cutting measures. This has further encouraged the usage of microfluidics-based devices.

Entry of new players and the launch of new and advanced products

The ecosystem in the microfluidics market is changing rapidly with the launch of new products, entry of new players, rapidly growing IP base, and acquisitions. Over the last few years, the market has witnessed the emergence of several new small players and spinoffs focusing majorly on technology and product development. Several established players in the diagnostics and life sciences markets are focusing on acquiring these promising small players with a focus on adding and integrating new technologies to their portfolios. This also proves beneficial for smaller companies by expanding their marketing and distribution capabilities. This, in turn, allows them to achieve maximum potential sales for their products.

On the other hand, the complex and time-consuming approval process is hampering the introduction of new products in the market. For example, in the US, the FDA approval process for medical devices has become lengthy over the years. The average approval time for a 510(K) application increased to 151 days during 2011–2015, as opposed to 96 days in 2001–2005. This is expected to have a major impact on the drug delivery, pharmaceutical, and IVD industries. Furthermore, during the approval process, it is not certain whether the product will receive approval, or whether the terms of the approval may have a negative impact on the profitability of the product. Any enforcement action by governments also results in negative publicity, which impacts the market adversely.

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Mayur Jain

Mayur is working in MnM as a research analyst in the healthcare domain for three years. He has worked on syndicated market research reports including lateral flow assay market, and immunohistochemistry market among others. At MnM, Mayur has been enriching his knowledge in market sizing & forecasting, competitive intelligence mapping, data mining, primary/secondary research, market assessment, industry analysis, among others. Mayur completed his Bachelors in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Pune University (India) and Post-Graduation Diploma in Management (IB) from Indira Schools of Business Studies, Pune (India).

• mayur.jain@marketsandmarkets.com

The post Rising Demand for Point-of-Care Testing and Significant Return on Investment: Key Driving Factors of the Microfluidics Market appeared first on The MicroFluidic Circle.

Your CD player as a medical diagnostics device | Dr. Marc Madou | TEDxUCIrvine

CD microfluidics is somewhat relatable to a centrifuge system where CD microfluidics are based on resulting centrifugal forces as a microfluidic chip spins around a center axis commonly using a motor. Because of this, there is no need for the myriad of pumps and hoses that are generally found in lateral flow microfluidics. Research in CD microfluidics not limited to the small amount of research labs that specialize in pushing forward technological advances that these systems are capable of. Companies such as Siemens, Samsung, or even the ill-fated situation revolving Theranos are clear indications that CD microfluidics makes up a small chunk of the microfluidic market. A recent publication estimates the North America microfluidics market is expected to reach approximately 10.25 billion USD by 2025 at a CAGR of 18.5% with the healthcare sector projected to lead over half of the market share¹.

The healthcare sector stands to advance from the implementation of microfluidics in various services such as Point-of-Care (POC) diagnostics, immunoassays, genotyping & sequencing, and microarray analysis to name a few¹. If you do a quick search, you can find that an assortment of companies utilizing centrifugal microfluidics focuses on POC diagnostics. CD microfluidics allows the associated devices and systems to be portable, low cost, and easy to use; making it an ideal for applications in POC diagnostics. Yet, there are some issues holding back this technology from becoming the next big thing. As these systems try to accomplish critical elements towards the development of a complete micro-total-analysis systems (μTAS) such as integration of multiple fluidic and analytical steps, sample preparation, and other enabling technologies, the complexity behind the engineering of these systems increase greatly.

So…what is a Sony Discman CD microfluidics?

Figure 1: Example five-layer disc assembly. Layers 1,3 and 5 are commonly hard-plastic. Layers 2,4 and double-sided pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs). Credit: Ling X. Kong²

CD microfluidics uses centrifugal, Coriolis, and Euler forces with respect to a rotating frame of reference to handle fluid-flow². The main driving force behind fluid flow is the centrifugal force which moves the fluid radially outward from the center of the disc. This unidirectional nature of fluid flow is one of the main disadvantages of CD microfluidics². Ample research has been and is still being conducted to be able to control and manipulate fluid flow in manners that are essential to services and devices necessary in the healthcare system. Examples of fluid control include valving, pumping, and mixing; all of which are important for sequencing the different fluidic processes³. However, these solutions to the unidirectional disadvantage come at a cost of difficulty in manufacturing and assembly that can hinder implementation of these operations in commercial products.

A five-layer disc assembly shown in Fig. 1 highlights a few of the associated difficulties. Layers 1, 3 and 5 are commonly made from a hard-plastic material while layers 2 and 4 are typically double-sided pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs)². Channels and chambers used in the design occupy different layers to maximize the working area because of the small real estate found in CD microfluidics. Furthermore, as layers increase, complications in the assembly of these disks increase significantly as each layer must be aligned properly and adequate adhesion between layers must be ensured to prevent unexpected leakage. Typically, in research labs, disks are made by CNC machining which can lead to long turn-around times and become costly. Ideally, in a commercial setting, CD microfluidic discs should be made using injection molding techniques to ensure consistency, repeatability, and a low-cost per unit. However, intricate designs commonly found on μTASs capable of complex services such as PCR or electrochemical detection may be limited in their ability to be manufactured using injection molding.

Figure 2: Representation of the Lab-on-Disc device showing four parallel tests and the respective components indicating lysis, clarification, PCR amplification, exonuclease reaction, microarray hybridization and washing functions. Credit: Emmanuel Roy⁴

Regardless, CD microfluidic systems have made a great leap in potential applications because of the developments in fluid control and manipulation and manufacturing techniques. For example, in 2014 Roy et Al. presented an all-thermoplastic integrated sample-to-answer centrifugal microfluidic Lab-on-Disc (LoD) system for nucleic acid analysis. The complete assay comprised cellular lysis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, amplicon digestion, and microarray hybridization on a plastic support all of which are shown in Fig. 2⁴. Another example presented by Mishra et Al. describes the automation of a multi-analyte prostate cancer biomarker immunoassay panel from the whole blood⁵. These two cases highlight the potential of CD microfluidics as viable alternatives to existing techniques in the healthcare system.

Outlook and Conclusion

As researchers slowly move from an emphasis on the development of fluid control and manipulation techniques to the engineering of complete CD microfluidic systems, better substitute solutions will eventually be developed. It is only a matter of time before microfluidic technologies become a standard in the healthcare industry. While there is still much to be done to optimize these systems for commercialization, the growing market for microfluidic devices in North America and globally will fuel the research and development to bring the proof-of-concept devices to market. Future challenges of CD microfluidics include the integration of electrochemical sensors and the development of entire systems capable of complete automation. While costs associated with assays, typically costly in larger scale systems, are decreased because of the smaller volumes used in microfluidics; integrated electrochemical sensors or optical sensors could potentially further decrease costs per use of future systems. As someone who is barely starting a career in this field, it is an exciting and very fortunate opportunity to be a part of what could revolutionize the healthcare industry.

<sup>1. ltd, Research and Markets. “North America Microfluidics Market Analysis, Companies Profiles, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast to 2025.” Research and Markets – Market Research Reports – Welcome, Mar. 2018, www.researchandmarkets.com/research/rmtjrf/north_america?w=4.

2. Kong, Ling X., et al. “Lab-on-a-CD: A Fully Integrated Molecular Diagnostic System.” Journal of Laboratory Automation, vol. 21, no. 3, 2016, pp. 323–355., doi:10.1177/2211068215588456.

3. Gilmore, Jordon, et al. “Challenges in the Use of Compact Disc-Based Centrifugal Microfluidics for Healthcare Diagnostics at the Extreme Point of Care.” Micromachines, vol. 7, no. 4, 2016, p. 52., doi:10.3390/mi7040052.

4. Roy, Emmanuel, et al. “From Cellular Lysis to Microarray Detection, an Integrated Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) Point of Care Lab on a Disc.” Lab on a Chip, vol. 15, no. 2.

5. Mishra, Rohit, et al. “Automation of Multi-Analyte Prostate Cancer Biomarker Immunoassay Panel from Whole Blood by Minimum-Instrumentation Rotational Flow Control.” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, vol. 263, 2018, pp. 668–675., doi:10.1016/j.snb.2018.02.015., 2015, pp. 406–416., doi:10.1039/c4lc00947a.</sup>

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Adrian Bahani

Adrian Bahani is a junior Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student at the University of California, Irvine. He was an undergraduate researcher under Dr. Marc Madou for one year focusing on 3D manufacturing techniques for rapid prototyping of CD-like microfluidic platforms. He currently is an undergraduate researcher at the Beckman Laser Institute in Irvine focusing on developing techniques for high-resolution 3-dimensional visualization of neuro-microvasculature and microbleed formation in the brain. He also leads the largest automotive enthusiast club in the University of California system and can be found wrenching on cars on the weekends.

• abahani@uci.edu

The post What’s a Discman and How Is It a Medical Diagnostic Device? (CD Microfluidics) appeared first on The MicroFluidic Circle.