A Finger-Actuated Sample-Dosing Capillary-Driven Microfluidic Device for Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has attracted significant attention for rapid and accurate point-of-care diagnostics. However, integrating sample introduction, lysis, amplification, and detection steps into an easy-to-use, disposable system has so far been challenging. This has limited the uptake of the technique in practical applications. In this study, we developed a colourimetric one-step LAMP assay that combines thermolysis and LAMP reaction, to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in nasopharyngeal swab samples from COVID-19-infected individuals. The limit of detection was 500 copies per reaction at 65 °C for 25 min in reaction tubes. Additionally, we developed a finger-operated capillary-driven microfluidic device with selective PVA coating. This finger-actuated microfluidic device could self-dose the required sample amount for the LAMP reaction and inhibit sample evaporation. Finally, we integrated the LAMP assay into the microfluidic device by short-term pre-storage of the LAMP master mix. Using this device, nasopharyngeal swab samples from COVID-19-infected individuals showed positive results at a reaction time of 35 min at 65 °C. This integrated device may be adapted to detect other RNA viruses of interest rapidly.