Fabrication of digital microfluidic devices and development of automated analytical methods for clinical and forensic applications

• Grant number: 25/03521-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Thiago Regis Longo Cesar da Paixão
• Grantee: Danielly Santos Rocha
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/00246-1 - Miniaturized large-scale devices for in-situ analysis: fabrication, characterization and applications, AP.TEM

Abstract

The need to perform analytical tests directly at the point of care, aiming at applications in clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, food safety, forensic chemistry, and pharmaceutical product quality control, has been longstanding. In this context, digital microfluidics (DMF), which uses electrostatic forces to manipulate droplets, has emerged as an innovative technology. DMF allows the integration of multiple analytical stages, such as sample pre-treatment, transport, micro-scale chemical reactions, and detection/quantification of analytes. Its main advantages stem from the reconfigurability of experiments, parallel operations, and a high level of automation. Additionally, DMF can be integrated with numerous techniques, such as colorimetry and electrochemistry. The fabrication of DMF chips ranges from high-cost methods, such as photolithography, to alternative protocols like laser engraving. In this regard, it represents an emerging research field with the potential to explore new substrates and sustainable materials for electrode production and dielectric and hydrophobic layer coating. From this perspective, this project focuses, for the first time in Brazil, on the alternative fabrication of digital microfluidic chips. Furthermore, it aims to develop automated analytical assays integrating DMF with colorimetry and/or electrochemistry for analytes of clinical and forensic interest. In the clinical field, neonatal screening for metabolic disorder diagnoses will be explored, while in the forensic field, the goal is to propose a multiplexed analytical assay for the detection of substances used as in "date rape" crimes.