Design of a microfluidic paper-based device for analysis of biomarkers from urine samples on diapers

Among all infections, urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most common. Nowadays the procedures to analyze urine and consequently detect UTI are often painful and time-consuming. Recent studies about microfluidic paper-based devices have developed the interest of researchers due their outstanding characteristics. In this paper is presented a novel design for a microfluidic paper-based device for screening and analysis of multiple biomarkers from urine samples on diapers. The device consists on a set of eight layers. It was designed based on the previous attempts to improve and overcome some problems detected as the continuous entrance of fluids, the possibility of contamination and the invalidity of results due to communication between different reagent pads. One approach was create a self-locking mechanism that closes the sample inlet in approximately four minutes solving the first two problems. Furthermore, is important that comfort is guaranteed, hence a device with a total thickness of 5,3 mm is presented. This device can keep the results for eight hours and can be used as a low-cost and more effective alternative than conventional methods being a strategy with potential for the diagnostic and analysis of biological samples in the future improving healthcare.This research is mainly supported by Norsk Regionalt Forskningsfond Oslofjordfondet Prosjekt: Touchsensor for enklere og raskere urinprøvetaking og analyse (proj. no: 234972). The support from Regionale Forksningfond Oslofjordfondet forprosjekt (proj. no. 249017, 255893 and 260586) and Forprosjekt – VRIBEDRIFT Vestfold (proj. no. 252173) is also acknowledged. We are also thankful to the funds from National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 61550110253 and 61650410655), Chongqing Research Program of Basic Research and Frontier Technology (nos. cstc2016jcyjA2161, cstc2015jcyjA20023), Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Education Commission (no. KJ1600604) and Chongqing Innovation Team of Colleges and Universities (no. CXTDX201601025).