| As the delivery of healthcare has shifted from best clinical outcomes to best value outcomes, the promise of point-of-care diagnostics provides an avenue for faster and more accurate treatment, saving both time and money than traditional laboratory diagnostic testing. For example, the lateral flow pregnancy test, has provided an at-home diagnostic test that has greatly benefited many by rapidly and cheaply detecting the presence human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone in pregnant women. The need for new point-of-care diagnostics for disease detection and treatment has provided a strong opportunity for microfluidics. Microfluidics is the interdisciplinary field studying the manipulation of fluids in "microchannels". Biomedical microfluidics has enabled the development of point-of-care diagnostic platforms that benefit from low-cost materials, small footprint, low reagent and sample volumes, and automation. However, while many microfluidic platforms have been developed, few have reached the market due to the inability to scale-up manufacturing. This dissertation contributes to the development of scalable rapid prototyping techniques to better translate microfluidic systems from the lab bench to the clinic. Chronic and idiopathic eye diseases are one facet of healthcare that could greatly benefit from microfluidic point-of-care diagnostic platforms to better preserve vision, reduce surgeries needed for large volume biopsies and personalize disease treatment. Three different scalable platforms have been developed to address this clinical need utilizing innovative microfluidic techniques such as centrifugal and paper-based flow control. These systems contribute to the field by: 1) providing a framework for scalable rapid prototyping of microfluidic devices using commercialization-friendly manufacturing methods and materials, 2) enabling the study of molecular diagnostic analysis and complicated cell functions such as chemotaxis at very small time frames (<20 minutes), and 3) integrating diagnostic capabilities with necessary sample preparation techniques such as preconcentration using an innovative open-platform system. Altogether, this work improves the ability to accelerate the translation of research microfluidic diagnostic platforms to commercial products. |
