Geomorphology-assisted manipulation of magnet-actuated droplet for solid phase DNA extraction and droplet-in-oil PCR

Magnet actuated droplets on an open surface have shown great potential in biomolecules manipulation. In spite of its simplicity, many factors still need to be considered for successful droplet control. This report presents a microfluidic platform with surface geomorphological features for easy droplet manipulation, facilitating totally integrated sample preparation and gene analysis. Taking the advantage of the silica superparamagnetic particle based solid phase extraction. We have successfully demonstrated that our platform is capable of processing raw biosamples and analyzing the genomic content through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The simple portable platform is proved to be ideal for truly point-of-care application.