Simultaneous quantification of biomarkers using wax-patterned paper-polymer centrifugal optics

In this study, we demonstrate a novel wax-patterned paper-polymer centrifugal optical system for performing multiple biomedical tests. The system consists of a detector (photodiode, LED), a diagnostic disc (paper, plastic) and a DC motor, allowing monitoring of changes in real time absorbance. Here, a wax printer was used to form hydrophobic channels on paper. The diagnostic disc can be prepared by attaching wax-patterned paper to a plastic disc. After the diagnostic disc is mounted on the dc motor, the fluid first wets the wax-patterned paper by centrifugal force, slowly moves by capillary action, and the reaction proceeds in the reaction zone with enzyme and color indicator. Microfluidic devices prepared in the wax-patterned paper have several attractive features such as low cost, ease of use, disposability and portability. In addition, the centrifugal disk-based platform can provide a solution for high-efficiency analysis that can process multiple reactions in parallel and monitor reactions in real time. To demonstrate the usability of this system, we performed realtime monitoring of glucose, an important indicator of blood glucose. The detection results could be delivered with the calibration curve within 10 seconds and no complex image analysis was required. The developed wax-patterned paperpolymer centrifugal optical system is promising for clinical multianalyte point-of-care testing due to its ease of manufacture, ease of operation, low cost and high sensitivity.