NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Microfluidic Mixing Technology for a Universal Health SensorA highly efficient means of microfluidic mixing has been created for use with the rHEALTH sensor an elliptical mixer and passive curvilinear mixing patterns. The rHEALTH sensor provides rapid, handheld, complete blood count, cell differential counts, electrolyte measurements, and other lab tests based on a reusable, flow-based microfluidic platform. These geometries allow for cleaning in a reusable manner, and also allow for complete mixing of fluid streams. The microfluidic mixing is performed by flowing two streams of fluid into an elliptical or curvilinear design that allows the combination of the flows into one channel. The mixing is accomplished by either chaotic advection around micro - fluidic loops. All components of the microfluidic chip are flow-through, meaning that cleaning solution can be introduced into the chip to flush out cells, plasma proteins, and dye. Tests were performed on multiple chip geometries to show that cleaning is efficient in any flowthrough design. The conclusion from these experiments is that the chip can indeed be flushed out with microliter volumes of solution and biological samples are cleaned readily from the chip with minimal effort. The technology can be applied in real-time health monitoring at patient s bedside or in a doctor s office, and real-time clinical intervention in acute situations. It also can be used for daily measurement of hematocrit for patients on anticoagulant drugs, or to detect acute myocardial damage outside a hospital.
Document ID
20090020565
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Other - NASA Tech Brief
Authors
Chan, Eugene Y.
(DNA Medicine Institute, Inc. Boston, MA, United States)
Bae, Candice
(DNA Medicine Institute, Inc. Boston, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 2009
Publication Information
Publication: NASA Tech Briefs, May 2009
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Report/Patent Number
LEW-18391-1
Report Number: LEW-18391-1
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available