Optimization potential on the one hand – a key role on the other

In general, microfluidic platforms are well suited to swiftly develop and commercialize point of care testing (POCT). However, creating the “ideal” POC test is a great challenge: besides being affordable, sensitive, specific and user friendly, it also has to be quick, robust, should not require additional devices and be deliverable to end consumers. The tests employed during the pandemic have shown that the various methods have different limitations, and that there is need for improvement. PCR tests, for example, are more time-consuming and need to be evaluated in a laboratory, which makes this method expensive and limits throughput. Antigen tests, on the other hand, have a low sensitivity and sometimes provide false negative results. Antibody tests that detect whether the patient has already recovered from an infection also have limited sensitivity. “These limitations show that there is no silver bullet when it comes to testing,” states Dr Holger Becker, Chief Scientific Officer at microfluidic ChipShop. Nonetheless, the expert is convinced that POCT will receive a sustainable boost and that microfluidics will play a key role, especially in molecular testing.


Point-of-care testing: A key tool during the pandemic

In the uture, we can expect to see additional technologies emerge in the field of POCT, which will catch on more easily in light of the pandemic. These include direct imaging techniques, potentially combined with artificial intelligence (AI) or silicon-based sensors (e.g. silicon photonics). CRISPR diagnostics are a relatively new tool (CRISPR stands for “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats”) that is used to identify specific RNA sequences. When detecting RNA viruses, one usually only has relatively small bits of genetic material in which to detect a virus-specific genetic sequence. CRISPR diagnostics use a Cas enzyme and a fluorescently labelled reporter RNA molecule. If the sample contains the targeted RNA, the Cas enzyme begins cutting the RNA from both the target and the reporter molecule, thus releasing the colored label, which in turn allows it to be detected. In other words, this is an indirect form of detection that at the same time is extremely specific – a true benefit. “As a rule, we expect to see a rise in demand for POCT, which will become a key tool in dealing with pandemics,” says Holger Becker.

This will then benefit companies such as microLIQUID (from Spain), which specializes in customer-specific microfluidic applications and has expertise in every step of the supply chain, from product design and development to the introduction of new products and manufacturing. “A lot of the time, taking a prototype into mass production creates a decisive bottleneck,” explains Dr Luis Fernández, CTO of microLIQUID, touching on a key challenge for which solutions are needed.

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