A newly designed optical biochip for a TDM-POCT device

The design of a novel therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) point-of-care-testing (POCT) biochip for immunosuppressants detection in transplanted patients is described. The chip consists of two polymeric parts, a top PMMA slide and a bottom ZEONOR® thin foil, bonded together by means of a pressure sensitive adhesive tape. The tape, with lower refractive index, is shaped in order to obtain a microfluidic multi-channel array. The optical signal, coming from an external light source and travelling along the ZEONOR® thin foil, excites the fluorescent sensing layer immobilized onto the fluidic channels. Preliminary tests with the bioassay implementation for tacrolimus detection are reported. © 2014 SPIE.