Paper-based Integrated Microfluidic Hematology Analyzer

To address the Defense Health Programs (DHPs) need for a rapid, point-of-care, comprehensive blood analysis device for diagnosis of Iron Deficiency (ID) and Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) in a training setting, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Paper-based Integrated Microfluidic Hematology Analyzer (HemoPAD) for rapid point-of-care diagnosis of iron deficiency. HemoPAD is based on the integration of paper based microfluidic systems with hybrid electrical and optical detection methods for measurement of a panel of iron deficiency indicators. Specifically, the innovation in developing a paper-based microfluidic Coulter counter system for enumeration of red blood cells along with immobilizing specific antibodies relevant to iron deficiency as well as addition of hepcidin protein in the iron deficiency panel of analytes will enable the device to accurately and rapidly provide a plausible medical diagnosis for iron deficiency. As a result, this technology offers high sensitivity, portability, and rapidness, which directly addresses the DHP requirements. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of HemoPAD by measuring analytes indicative of iron deficiency and reaching Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4. In Phase II, POC plans to reach TRL-5 by further developing and validating the prototype.