Paper based devices for bio/chem. sensing, immunoassays and cell culture applications using lamination sheets

Nityanand Kumawat 
| April 24th 2022 – 11 am, NYUAD C1 (ERB) -045 |

Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (microPADs) are emerging as simple-to-use, low-cost point-of-care testing platforms. Such devices are mostly fabricated at present by creating hydrophobic barriers using wax or photoresist patterning on the porous paper sheets. I will talk about an affordable and simple two-step process – Cut and Heat (CH-microPADs) – developed in the lab for the fabrication of hydrophilic channels and reservoirs selectively on a wide variety of porous media such as tissue / printing / filter paper and cloth types such as cotton and polyester, by a lamination process. The technique presents many advantages as compared to existing commonly used methods. The fabricated devices are structurally flexible and showed good chemical resistance to various solvents, acids and bases, presenting a widespread applicability in the areas such as clinical diagnostics, biological sensing applications, food processing, and chemical industry. Fabricated paper media 96 well-plate CH-microPAD configurations were tested for cell culture applications using mice embryonic fibroblasts and detection of proteins and enzymes using ELISA. With a simple two-step process and minimal human intervention, the technique presents a promising step towards mass fabrication of inexpensive disposable diagnostic devices both for resource-limited and developed regions.

Speaker’s Bio

Dr. Nityanand Kumawat is working as a research scientist at the New York University Abu Dhabi with prof. Sunil Kumar. He is working in the area of label-free bio-sensors based on surface plasmon resonance, diffractive interferometry and thin film interference. In the areas mentioned, he works towards the development of low-cost microfluidic techniques and microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (microPADs) for point of care applications.