SURFACTANT ADDITIVES FOR DIGITAL MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES FOR HIGH PROTEIN CONTENT DROPLETS TRANSPORT

摘要

Disclosed herein is a surfactant additive, ethylenediamine tetrakis(ethoxylate-block-propoxylate) tetrol with 16 ethylene oxide repeat units and 18 propylene oxide repeat units (known by its trade name as Tetronic 90R4) used as a droplet-additive, or to coat DMF driving electrode surfaces which dramatically improves the capability to work with high-protein-content liquids (e.g., whole blood) on digital microfluidic chips. This surfactant prevents protein adsorption and fouling of DMF electrode surfaces to an extent that was heretofore impossible. Specifically, this surfactant allows for the manipulation of droplets of undiluted whole blood for 1 hour per electrode (1 50 times better than what is possible for any known additive). This improvement in handling high protein content media will revolutionize blood-based diagnostics on digital microfluidic platforms.