AUTOMATING SAMPLE PREPARATION IN MICROFLOW CYTOMETRY

This report describes a microflow cytometer capable of five-plex bacteria detection with an automated sample-toanswer processing time of 30 minutes. The limit of detection of a magnetic bead-based immunoassay run on the sample preparation portion of the microdevice closely matched that of the current, manual assay. Fluidic driving and optical interrogation was performed within a compact instrumentation footprint, offering clear advantages over the laboratorybased flow cytometers currently in use for medical diagnostics. Moreover, an individually addressable array of micromagnets was developed as a method to overcome challenges involved with coupling magnetic bead-based sample preparation with microflow cytometry.