Microfluidic Detection of Viruses for Human Health

Given the recent world pandemic of COVID-19, the need for the field- and clinic-ready diagnostic methods and devices is in high demand. The low-cost devices for rapid virus detections with high sensitivity must be available to minimize infection spreading in society. Virus detection from human specimens, including nasopharyngeal swabs, blood withdrawals, urine, or feces, is specifically challenging – particularly true for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 detection from nasopharyngeal swabs). Recently, a series of emerging microfluidic strategies have been developed to offer a range of advanced bioassay to rapidly determine virus infection progress. Both antibody- and nucleic acid amplification-based methods can be implemented on microfluidic platforms. Nucleic acid amplification methods, most notably polymerase chain reaction (PCR), are preferred for virus detection from human specimens (typically with reverse transcription), due to its high specificity and sensitivity. This special issue features articles on this topic of microfluidic detection of viruses for human health.

Jeong-Yeol Yoon, Chia-Hung Chen