Disposable microfluidic micromixers for effective capture of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts from water samples

L. Diéguez, M. Winter, S. Molan, P. Monis, B. King, B. Thierry

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
5 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: Protecting drinking water supplies from pathogens such as Cryptosporidium parvum is a major concern for water utilities worldwide. The sensitivity and specificity of current detection methods are largely determined by the effectiveness of the concentration and separation methods used. The purpose of this study is to develop micromixers able to specifically isolate and concentrate Cryptosporidium, while allowing in situ analysis. Results: In this study, disposable microfluidic micromixers were fabricated to effectively isolate Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts from water samples, while allowing direct observation and enabling quantification of oocysts captured in the device using high quality immunofluorescence microscopy. In parallel, quantitative analysis of the capture yield was carried out by analyzing the waste from the microfluidics outlet with an Imaging Flow Cytometer. At the optimal flow rate, capture efficiencies up to 96% were achieved in spiked samples. Conclusions: Scaled microfluidic isolation and detection of Cryptosporidium parvum will provide a faster and more efficient detection method for Cryptosporidium compared to other available laboratory-scale technologies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Biological Engineering
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Mar 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, andreproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link tothe Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated

Keywords

  • Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts
  • Disposable microfluidic micromixers
  • Fluorescence microscopy
  • Imaging flow cytometry
  • Immunocytochemistry
  • Water quality

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