Versatile Tool for Droplet Generation in Standard Reaction Tubes by Centrifugal Step Emulsification

Molecules

Marian Weiss¹  Silvia Calabrese¹  Nadine Borst¹  Sophia Probst¹  Ana R. Homann¹  Martin Schulz¹  Felix von Stetten¹  Roland Zengerle¹  Nils Paust¹ 

[1] Hahn-Schickard, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany;

关键词: microfluidics;    centrifugal step emulsification;    droplet generation;    emulsification;    compartmentation;    digital amplification;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules25081914

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

We present a versatile tool for the generation of monodisperse water-in-fluorinated-oil droplets in standard reaction tubes by centrifugal step emulsification. The microfluidic cartridge is designed as an insert into a standard 2 mL reaction tube and can be processed in standard laboratory centrifuges. It allows for droplet generation and subsequent transfer for any downstream analysis or further use, does not need any specialized device, and manufacturing is simple because it consists of two parts only: A structured substrate and a sealing foil. The design of the structured substrate is compatible to injection molding to allow manufacturing at large scale. Droplets are generated in fluorinated oil and collected in the reaction tube for subsequent analysis. For sample sizes up to 100 µL with a viscosity range of 1 mPa·s–4 mPa·s, we demonstrate stable droplet generation and transfer of more than 6 × 10⁵ monodisperse droplets (droplet diameter 66 µm ± 3 µm, CV ≤ 4%) in less than 10 min. With two application examples, a digital droplet polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) and digital droplet loop mediated isothermal amplification (ddLAMP), we demonstrate the compatibility of the droplet production for two main amplification techniques. Both applications show a high degree of linearity (ddPCR: R² ≥ 0.994; ddLAMP: R² ≥ 0.998), which demonstrates that the cartridge and the droplet generation method do not compromise assay performance.

【 授权许可】

Unknown