High-throughput and automatic typing via human papillomavirus identification map for cervical cancer screening and prognosis.

A novel human papillomavirus (HPV) typing assay for cervical cancer screening and prognosis was developed by the combination of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and microchip electrophoresis (MCE) to achieve higher levels of sensitivity and throughput. The detection limit of 2 × 10(2) copies, high sensitivity and typing accuracy on the account of PCR-RFLP-MCE method guarantee the successful diagnosis results of 4-fold higher infection rate over cytologic tests. From clinical samples, eleven kinds of HPV types were identified with a good compatibility degree of over 90%.

Determination of gouty arthritis' biomarkers in human urine using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

Creatinine, uric acid, hypoxanthine and xanthine are important diagnostic biomarkers in human urine for gouty arthritis or renal disease diacrisis. A simple method for simultaneous determination of these biomarkers in urine based on reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with ultraviolet (UV) detector was proposed. After pretreatment by dilution, centrifugation and filtration, the biomarkers in urine samples were separated by ODS-BP column by elution with methanol/50 mM NaHPO buffer solution at pH 5.

A portable microchip for ultrasensitive and high-throughput assay of thrombin by rolling circle amplification and hemin/G-quadruplex system.

In this work, a convenient and high-throughput colorimetric assay was developed on an aptamer-modified microchip for ultrasensitive detection of thrombin using rolling circle amplification and G-quadruplex DNAzyme. This system consisted of an aptamer-modified microchip and a secondary aptamer. The secondary aptamer contained a thrombin aptamer and a primer with a G-quadruplex circular template.

One-step enrichment and chemiluminescence detection of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate in river water using Mg-Al-carbonate layered double hydroxides.

In this work, Mg-Al CO3-layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were used as adsorbent materials for sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) in aqueous solutions, the enriched SDBS can be directly detected by IO4(-)-H2O2 chemiluminescence (CL) system. The commonly existing cations cannot be enriched by Mg-Al CO3-LDHs due to the structurally positively charged layers of LDHs, while other adsorbed anionic interferents had no effect on the IO4(-)-H2O2 CL reaction. The corresponding linear regression equation was established in the range of 0.

Paper spray mass spectrometry-based method for analysis of droplets in a gravity-driven microfluidic chip.

This work presents a paper spray mass spectrometry-based method, to analyze microdroplets produced in a gravity-driven microchip. Droplets at ambient pressure were passively transferred from the chip to a paper substrate by the capillary wicking effect. Paper spray ionization was then performed for mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of droplet contents.

Determination of cysteine, homocysteine, cystine, and homocystine in biological fluids by HPLC using fluorosurfactant-capped gold nanoparticles as postcolumn colorimetric reagents.

We have demonstrated for the first time the suitability of fluorosurfactant-capped spherical gold nanoparticles as HPLC postcolumn colorimetric reagents for the direct assay of cysteine, homocysteine, cystine, and homocystine. The success of this work was based on the use of an on-line tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine reduction column for cystine and homocystine. Several parameters affecting the separation efficiency and the postcolumn colorimetric detection were thoroughly investigated.

A microscale solid-phase extraction poly(dimethylsiloxane) chip for enrichment and fluorescent detection of metal ions.

A rapid and simple enrichment system was developed on microfluidic chip which was integrated with on-line complexing and fluorescence detection. Microparticles of ion-exchange resin were trapped into the microchannel by a fabricated weir-structure in the end of the microchannel to construct a micro-solid-phase extraction (μ-SPE) device. Some commonly existing metal ions in environment were served as models to evaluate the performance of the proposed microdevice, in combination with on-line derivatization with 8-hydroxyquinolin-5-sulfonic acid (HQS) and fluorescence detection.

Plasmonic luminescent core-shell nanocomposites-enhanced chemiluminescence arising from the decomposition of peroxomonosulfite.

A core-shell structure of plasmonic luminescent nanocomposite, Ni@SiO2@FITC@SiO2 (NSFS) combining the stable luminescence of fluorophore with the excellent plasmonic property of metal nanomaterials, has been synthesized through layer-by-layer assembly. The effect of NSFS on the ultraweak chemiluminescence (CL) reaction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) was explored for the first time. It was found that the CL intensity from the decomposition of peroxomonosulfite was significantly enhanced by NSFS.

Determination of mini-short tandem repeat (miniSTR) loci by using the combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and microchip electrophoresis.

In this work, a simple and convenient method for the detection of mini-short tandem repeat (miniSTR) loci has been developed by the combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and microchip electrophoresis (MCE). Degraded or inhibitor DNA greatly limited STR loci analysis. Therefore, The proper primers was designed as close as possible to the STRs region to produce smaller size STRs, and made the assay suitable for the destroyed samples.

Microfluidic isolation of highly pure embryonic stem cells using feeder-separated co-culture system.

Engineered artificial tissues from stem cells show great potential in regenerative medicine, disease therapies and organ transplantation. To date, stem cells are typically co-cultured with inactivated feeder layers to maintain their undifferentiated state, and to ensure reliable cell purity. Herein, we propose a novel microfabricated approach for feeder-separated coculture of mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) porous membrane-assembled 3D-microdevice.

A parallel G-quadruplex-selective luminescent probe for the detection of nanomolar calcium(II) ion.

A parallel G-quadruplex-selective iridium(III) complex has been synthesized and employed as a luminescent probe in a label-free G-quadruplex-based detection assay for Ca(2+) ions in aqueous solution. In this assay, a guanine-rich oligonucleotide (G4, 5'-G4T4G4-3') initially exists in an antiparallel G-quadruplex conformation, resulting in a low luminescence signal. Upon incubation with Ca(2+) ions, the antiparallel G-quadruplex is induced into a parallel G-quadruplex conformation, which greatly enhances the luminescence emission of the iridium(III) probe.

Peroxide induced ultra-weak chemiluminescence and its application in analytical chemistry.

Chemiluminescence (CL), as a sensitive, rapid, and facile analytical method, has been widely applied in environmental monitoring, clinical diagnosis and food safety. Recently, the main challenge and research interest in the CL study have been focused on exploring new CL systems and obtaining new insight into the interaction between CL reagents. The peroxide induced ultra-weak CL reactions are some new arising systems that have received great attention and have been successfully applied in many fields.

Recent advances in microfluidics combined with mass spectrometry: technologies and applications.

Instrument miniaturization is one of the critical issues to improve sensitivity, speed, throughput, and to reduce the cost of analysis. Microfluidics possesses the ability to handle small sample amounts, with minimal concerns related to sample loss and cross-contamination, problems typical for standard fluidic manipulations. Moreover, the native properties of microfluidics provide the potential for high-density, parallel sample processing, and high-throughput analysis.

Inkjet nanoinjection for high-thoughput chemiluminescence immunoassay on multicapillary glass plate.

We report a novel chemiluminescence diagnosis system for high-throughput human IgA detection by inkjet nanoinjection on a multicapillary glass plate. As proof-of-concept, microhole-based polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheets were aligned on a multicapillary glass plate to form a microwell array as microreactors for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The multicapillary glass plate was utilized as a switch that controlled the holding/passing of the solution.

Detection of BCR-ABL using one step reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction and microchip electrophoresis.

One-step reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) coupled with microchip electrophoresis (MCE) was established to analyze BCR-ABL fusion gene. The use of one-step RT-PCR could simplify the RT-PCR procedure and thus reduced the risk of contamination and sample consumption. This method also enhanced the sensitivity for amplified target DNA and dramatically shorted the analysis time.

Application of carbon-based nanomaterials in sample preparation: a review.

In this paper, a broad overview on the applications of different carbon-based nanomaterials, including nanodiamonds, fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon nanofibers, carbon nanocones-disks and nanohorns, as well as their functionalized forms, in sample preparation is provided. Particular attention has been paid to graphene because many papers regarding its application in this research field are becoming available. The distinctive properties, derivatization methods and application techniques of these materials were summarized and compared.

Rapid determination of residual pesticides in tobacco by the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe sample pretreatment method coupled with LC-MS.

A quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) sample pretreatment method coupled with LC-MS was developed for the determination of 11 pesticides in tobacco. Sample pretreatment parameters and instrumental parameters of LC-MS were investigated, and the optimal conditions were selected. Under the optimized conditions, the 11 pesticides were detected simultaneously with a good linear relationship (r(2) = 0.

Production of superoxide anion radicals as evidence for carbon nanodots acting as electron donors by the chemiluminescence method.

In this communication, a novel chemiluminescence phenomenon was observed for the as-prepared carbon nanodots (CDs) in a concentrated sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. The generation of superoxide anion radical (O2˙(-)) directly provides evidence for the excellent electron-donating ability of CDs.

A piezoelectric drop-on-demand generator for accurate samples in capillary electrophoresis.

In this work, we propose a piezoelectric droplet generator for injection of well-defined amounts of sample in capillary electrophoresis. We demonstrate stable, precise and drop-on-demand droplet formation for various solutions, with precise control of waveform driving piezoelectric crystal inside the ink-jet head. By tuning the waveform, we can also manipulate the droplet size and delivery frequency.

A simple and versatile microfluidic cell density gradient generator for quantum dot cytotoxicity assay.

In this work, a simple and versatile microfluidic cell density gradient generator was successfully developed for cytotoxicity of quantum dots (QDs) assay. The microfluidic cell density gradient generator is composed of eight parallel channels which are respectively surrounded by 1-8 microwells with optimized length and width. The cells fall into microwells by gravity and the cell densities are obviously dependent of microwell number.

Generation of picoliter droplets of liquid for electrospray ionization with piezoelectric inkjet.

We report the association of inkjet and electrospray ionization MS to detect picoliter droplet, where the liquid volume and its position onto the tip can be precisely controlled to form ultrafine droplets for successive ionization of the analyte. Single rectangle pulse was applied to piezoelectric device on inkjet microchip for the ejection of each picoliter droplet, and it was controlled by a computer. The voltage and width of driving pulse for the inkjet were optimized to make reproducible ejection of the solvent with low viscosity.

Automated high performance liquid chromatography with on-line reduction of disulfides and chemiluminescence detection for determination of thiols and disulfides in biological fluids.

In general, the reduction of disulfide bonds with tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) is performed using off-line operation, which is not only time-consuming but also vulnerable to the spontaneous re-oxidation of thiols during sample preparation and subsequent analysis procedures. To the best of our knowledge, there has been not any case on the on-line reduction for biological disulfides coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In this study, these obstacles are overcome by packing Zn(II)-TCEP complexes into a home-made column.

Development and applications of paper-based electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry for monitoring of sequentially generated droplets.

In this work, sub-microlitre droplets were generated by gravity and electrostatic attraction using a capillary tube. The parameters affecting the sizes and frequency of the droplets were investigated. The volume of droplets could be controlled in the range from 0.

Characterization of drug permeability in Caco-2 monolayers by mass spectrometry on a membrane-based microfluidic device.

In this study, an integrated microfluidic device was developed for drug permeability assays with real-time online detection by a directly coupled mass spectrometer. The integrated microfluidic device contained two independent channels sandwiched by a semipermeable polycarbonate membrane for cell culture, and micro solid-phase extraction (SPE) columns for sample clean-up and concentration prior to mass spectrometry detection. Curcumin, a model drug, was delivered to an upper or bottom channel by a pressure-driven flow to mimic dynamic in vivo conditions, and it was forced to permeate into the other side channel.

High-performance liquid chromatography assay of cysteine and homocysteine using fluorosurfactant-functionalized gold nanoparticles as postcolumn resonance light scattering reagents.

Herein, a new postcolumn resonance light scattering (RLS) detection approach coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed to detect cysteine and homocysteine. In the established system, the fluorosurfactant-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were first employed as postcolumn RLS reagents. The detection principle was based on the enhancement of RLS intensity of AuNPs upon the addition of cysteine/homocysteine.