Labslice XL – A Centrifugal Microfluidic Cartridge for the Automated Bio-Chemical Processing of Industrial Process Water

Abstract

The LabSlice XL is a novel centrifugal microfluidic platform for the extraction of nucleic acids from pathogens in complex sample matrices such as process water. For the first time, a standard filter membrane used to collect pathogens from large volumes is directly inserted into a microfluidic cartridge. A standard laboratory centrifuge is applied to automatize the bio-chemical procedure of lysate purification, DNA extraction, and PCR preparation. Convenient user interfaces and complete reagent pre-storage ensure user friendliness. Experiments show that the microfluidic process flow works as intended for three actual process water samples. The automated processing yields approximately 43% of the amount of DNA compared to manual processing.