Portable flow cell for detection of multiple microchannels in a single chip

Abstract

This paper showcases an optical flow cell for detection of parallel channels in the microfluidic chip. The flow cell operates by measuring the light intensity from the microchannels in a linearly moving chip. While this platform could be tailored for a wide variety of applications, here we show the design, fabrication and its working principle. Beta-lactamase, an indicator of bacterial resistance to β-lactam antibiotics especially in milk is also shown as an example. The flow cell has a small footprint and uses low-powered, low-cost components, which makes it ideally suited for use in portable devices that require multiple sample detection in a single chip.