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Lab on a Chip

Microfluidic and nanotechnologies for chemistry, biology, and bioengineering




Technical Note

Lab Chip, 2008, 8, 1216 - 1219, DOI: 10.1039/b801878b


Triggering vacuum capillaries for pneumatic pumping and metering liquids in point-of-care immunoassays

Kuo-Yao Weng, Nien-Jen Chou and Jya-Wei Cheng


An innovative vacuum capillary pneumatic actuation concept that can be used for point-of-care testing has been investigated. The vacuum glass capillaries are encapsulated within a laminated pouch and incorporated into the fluidic card. Vacuum glass capillaries broken by external force such as finger pressure, generate the pneumatic forces to induce liquid flow in the fluidic system. The sizes of vacuum capillary play a vital role in the pumping and metering functions of the system. The luteinizing hormone (LH) chromatographic immunoassay performances in the fluidic cards show consistency comparable to that obtained by manual micropipetting. The vacuum capillary pneumatic actuation will be applied in other complex handling step bioassays and lab-on-a-chip devices.

Graphical abstract image for this article  (ID: b801878b)