Poly(n-isopropyl acrylamide) coating of microchannels and bacterial sample loading via capillary-driven flow

Abstract

This paper showcases a capillary-driven flow microfluidics device (Chip-and-Dip) for loading of bacterial/pathogenic samples into microchannels for antimicrobial testing. This device offers the capability of capturing cells into microchannels that can be further treated with reagents to generate a colorimetric/fluorescent signal. The Chip-and-Dip device, fabricated with inexpensive materials and coated with these reagents, works by simply dipping the reagents-coated microfluidics chip into a sample. Here, we show a successful coating of microchannels with fluorescently labelled polymer and loading of Enterococcus Faecalis spiked in milk samples.