Abstract
Potency testing is an important part of the evaluation of cellular therapy products. In vitro quantification of identified quality-related biomarkers is a technique often used at the laboratory. Nonetheless, the limited stability of most cellular therapy products, the lot variability and the limited time within which to perform testing are currently hindering their widespread use. Fortunately, within the last two decades, the evolution of material technology and miniaturisation processes has enabled the research community to shift the spotlight of attention towards the Lab-on-Chip concept for diagnostic applications. Such devices enable portable, rapid, sensitive, automated and affordable biochemical analyses aiming to advance the healthcare services across a broad application spectrum. However, it could be argued that the aspirations on their affordability are far from being exceeded, mainly due to the lack of a practical manufacturing technology. The Lab-on-Printed Circuit Board (Lab-on-PCB) approach has demonstrated enormous potential for developing economical diagnostic platforms leveraging the advantage provided by economy of scale manufacturing of the long-standing PCB industry. The integration capabilities that the PCB platform introduces to the Lab-on-Chip concept concerning the electronics and microfluidics seem to be unique. In this chapter, we will be reviewing the progress of Lab-on-PCB prototypes quantifying within miniaturised microchips a range of critical quality attributes with potential in potency testing. We will focus on their technology and applications whilst addressing the potential of this approach in practical use and commercialisation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology |
| Editors | Jorge S. Burns |
| Publisher | Springer Healthcare |
| Chapter | 7 |
| Pages | 97-115 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-031-30040-0 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3-031-30039-4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2023 |
Publication series
| Name | Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology |
|---|---|
| Volume | 1420 |
| ISSN (Print) | 0065-2598 |
| ISSN (Electronic) | 2214-8019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:More recently, an alternative technique for fluidic channel formation was proposed by Gassmann et al. [25] by making the channel from a thick (2 mm) polycarbonate (PC) layer adhered to the PCB by an acrylic glue transfer tape. This design was specifically selected to satisfy the require - ment of the thermal treatment of seawater to totally isolate the sample from the copper layer (with the acrylic glue). There are a plethora of approaches that combine the PCB substrates and processes, mainly as the host for the electronic connections, with materials that require noncompatible processes to the PCB industry for the fluidic channels/components construction. For example, Ortiz et al. [26] provided a proof of concept assay utilising one of the first hybrid sys - tems to combine a PCB packaged silicon micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) with polymer microfluidics for cancer diagnosis. Particularly, the core sensing element of the device was a silicon MEMS mass sensor employing a circular diaphragm resonator (CDR), with suitable surface functionalisation converting it into a label-free BioMEMS analyte sensor. The MEMS devices were mounted onto a rigid-flex PCB to establish electrical connections and a biocompatible epoxy layer encapsulated the CDR loaded PCB, leaving uncovered only the functionalised sensing diaphragm area. The packaging process was finalised when the chip was inserted in a dis - posable microfluidic cartridge. The f al device is shown in Fig. 7.2. It is noteworthy that this work was funded by the European Commission as part of the SmartHEALTH Integrated Project consortium to address the high-cost issues of healthcare.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Funding
More recently, an alternative technique for fluidic channel formation was proposed by Gassmann et al. [25] by making the channel from a thick (2 mm) polycarbonate (PC) layer adhered to the PCB by an acrylic glue transfer tape. This design was specifically selected to satisfy the require - ment of the thermal treatment of seawater to totally isolate the sample from the copper layer (with the acrylic glue). There are a plethora of approaches that combine the PCB substrates and processes, mainly as the host for the electronic connections, with materials that require noncompatible processes to the PCB industry for the fluidic channels/components construction. For example, Ortiz et al. [26] provided a proof of concept assay utilising one of the first hybrid sys - tems to combine a PCB packaged silicon micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) with polymer microfluidics for cancer diagnosis. Particularly, the core sensing element of the device was a silicon MEMS mass sensor employing a circular diaphragm resonator (CDR), with suitable surface functionalisation converting it into a label-free BioMEMS analyte sensor. The MEMS devices were mounted onto a rigid-flex PCB to establish electrical connections and a biocompatible epoxy layer encapsulated the CDR loaded PCB, leaving uncovered only the functionalised sensing diaphragm area. The packaging process was finalised when the chip was inserted in a dis - posable microfluidic cartridge. The f al device is shown in Fig. 7.2. It is noteworthy that this work was funded by the European Commission as part of the SmartHEALTH Integrated Project consortium to address the high-cost issues of healthcare.
Keywords
- Biosensors
- Dry film resist
- Electrochemical sensors
- Lab-on-Chip
- Lab-on-PCB
- MEMS
- Microfluidic integration
- PCB technology
- μTAS
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology