Evaluating the Influence of Surfactant Concentration on Capillary Induced Droplet Generation

Makaela Quinn*, Bethany Fike, and Peng Li

C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Presentation Category: Biological & Biochemical Sciences (Poster Presentation #102)

Student’s Major: Biology

Point of care (POC) diagnostics is onsite, rapid testing that allows for quick, convenient results in resource- and time-limited situations. It has been widely used for rapid flu tests, pregnancy tests, and glucose monitoring for diabetes. Despite the progress, the analytical performance in existing POC tests are still far from ideal as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) is a promising technique to offer high performance for detecting pathogens. However, dPCR performed under the POC setup has not been achieved due to the technical challenges of generating monodisperse droplets with portable set up. We hypothesized that the concentration of surfactants could affect the droplet generation process. To determine the influence of surfactants, I studied the size of droplets produced by the acoustic method. Solutions of 5%, 2%, 1%, and 0.5% of Span 80 in mineral oil were prepared. Each solution was added into wells for droplet size evaluation. Using a fluorescent microscope, the size of five droplets were taken note of for each concentration tested. The present study provided valuable information on optimizing the performance of the acoustic droplet generator, which paves the way for achieving POC dPCR.

Funding: National Institute of Health

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course, Research stipend supported by NSF Award number HRD-1834595 as part of an overall NSF INCLUDES Award to First2 Network