Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as birth before the 37th week of pregnancy and affects 15 million infants per year. Presently, there is no clinical test to determine PTB risk. A 3D printed microfluidic device is being developed as a clinical test for PTB risk via detection of a panel of biomarkers. A significant step is extraction of the PTB biomarkers from blood serum. In this work, I developed 3D printed microfluidic devices in which monoliths can be polymerized. Using the monolith as a solid support to attach antibody, I show that ferritin, one of the PTB biomarkers, can be selectively extracted from human blood serum. This is the first study where a monolith has been formed in a 3D printed microfluidic device and used to perform an immunoaffinity extraction. This work is an important step in developing a clinical test for PTB risk. The realization of this work also demonstrates that 3D printing can be used to fabricate functional microfluidic devices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BGMYU2/oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-8440 |
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
| Creators | Parker, Ellen Kelsey |
| Publisher | BYU ScholarsArchive |
| Source Sets | Brigham Young University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/ |
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