Buffy coat separation using the hand-operated paperfuge took 15 minutes of spinning. In proof-of-concept experiments using 30 microliters of blood sample spiked with 7.5 percent Plasmodium falcipuram parasitemia, the group showed it could identify the parasites with fluorescent microscopy after buffy coat separation and that quantitative results were similar to those obtained using a commercial electric centrifuge.
Other devices have been proposed for centrifuging in low-resource settings. Researchers at Texas A&M University, for example, developed a method using the blades of a quadcopter, or drone, while others have pioneered methods using salad spinners.
The Stanford group also developed 3-D printed versions of the paperfuge, as well as a microfluidic disc made of polydimethylsiloxane, which they called a "PDMS-fuge" and suggested could be easily mass produced.
The latter, "[o]pens up possibilities to design integrated lab-on-a-chip devices that do not require external pumps or electricity," the researchers wrote. However, they noted, "the choice of paper as a substrate further opens opportunities for incorporating origami-based geometries, embedding optics, paper-based microfluidics, and ultimately integrated lateral-flow rapid diagnostic assays."
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