Specificity of Biomarker Detection in Microfluidic Sensors

The microfluidics based point-of-care (POC) sensing devices offer unmatched possibilities of fast and high throughput diagnosis over conventional strategies. A major challenge for the early detection of disease is the significantly lower concentration of biomarkers as compared to the interfering noise molecules. In this work, we investigate the ‘reaction parameter’ phase space to identify suitable reaction parameters to enhance biomarker detection specificity. Under similar target biomarker and noise concentration levels, we show that a target biomarker is more likely to be detected at low concentrations and weak target and noise-receptor binding kinetics. Importantly, a simulation verified time-scale based methodology is developed to guide the appropriate choice of biomarkers for specific detection. This study demonstrates the prospect of successful POC diagnostic devices during early stage of diseases such as cancer.