Optimal design and implement of a droplet generator of droplet digital polymerase chain reaction via taguchi method.

In this study, the complete droplet generator of digital droplet polymerase chain reaction system is developed for limited sample detection. The digital droplet polymerase chain reaction proving the viral load quantification results directly is important for diagnosis and tracing the viral load. Before the sample undergoes the thermal cycle, a process for DNA replication, the droplet generator reached to partition each sample into 20,000 nanoliter-sized droplets. For the fastest viral load testing, the droplet generated speed is important. The droplet generator system consists of cover layer, parent droplet layer, microstructure layer, droplet observation layer, and base layer, respectively. The engineered fluid mixing is filled with the surfactant concentration in the droplet generator system. The surfactant and engineered fluid are biocompatible. The sample is mixed with the magnetic nanofluid and then the magnetic pulling force acting on the parent magnetic droplet is separated into several nanoliter-sized droplets by microstructure. The volume of droplets and the speed of the droplet process are related to A: the surfactant concentration of engineered fluid, B: magnetic nanofluid concentration, C: the pattern of the microstructure layer, and D: the volume of the parent droplet. To this end, the optimization via Taguchi method is carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]