Grant: Idea to Innovation

In many fields of importance to Canadians' health and well-being, such as environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, food safety, forensics, and basic biological research, the ability to perform biomolecular and chemical detection is of paramount importance. There is a growing need for fast, accurate, and inexpensive instruments for sample manipulation with high-throughput for detection of agents from: 1) many samples; and/or 2) multiple agents in a single sample. Currently, such large-scale analysis is performed using slow, conventional lab techniques or large table-top systems. We have previously proposed uROAMS: a Microfluidic, Reconfigurable On-site Analyser for Multiplexed Samples, which is a new approach to the high-throughput portability problem solved by merging electronically controlled functional materials for microfluidics with state-of-the-art field programmable technology. We have previously developed enabling technologies for uROAMS that employ microfluidic multiplexing devices based on reconfigurable microfluidic interconnect. Building on our substantial successes during early-stage technology development, we now seek to combine and improve these technologies to provide a marketable prototype guided by experienced manufacturers and end-users. The main objectives of the proposal are: 1) produce a commercialization-ready prototype by developing the necessary materials and methods to enable reliable, uniform mass production and operation; and 2) improve the software aspects of the prototype to consider these new materials and methods and provide runtime control and a commercially viable simulator. The unit will be portable, generic, and, most importantly and unlike other microfluidic devices based on other technologies, be easily scalable to a much larger number of samples and tests. This new unit will lead to a disruptive modular commercial product with applications in multiple market sectors that has not yet been achieved using devices based on other microfluidics and control technologies.