The thin-film microfluidic technology of the accordquick system uses a variety of advanced technical means to ensure a precise balance between high sensitivity and high specificity when detecting nucleic acids of different types of pathogens. The following is a detailed introduction:
The accordquick system's nucleic acid detection all-in-one machine uses a highly integrated microfluidic control unit, which can achieve precise microfluidic flow rate, flow direction, transfer, quantification and mixing control. This ensures that during the nucleic acid detection process, the reagents and samples can be mixed in a precise proportion and order, avoiding detection errors caused by inaccurate reagent dosage or uneven mixing, and laying the foundation for improving the sensitivity and specificity of the detection.
The thin-film microfluidic chip that can achieve 20-plex PCR joint detection capabilities integrates functions such as silicon membrane nucleic acid extraction, PCR amplification, and fluorescence quantitative real-time detection. The entire process of nucleic acid detection is carried out in a sealed thin-film microfluidic chip, and the entire detection is basically isolated from the environment, eliminating aerosol contamination and sample cross-contamination. This integrated design reduces the interference of external factors on the test results and ensures the specificity of the test. At the same time, the design of the chip can optimize the conditions for nucleic acid extraction and amplification, improve the capture and amplification efficiency of low-abundance pathogen nucleic acids, and thus improve the sensitivity of detection.
The system has a unique design in thermal cycle control. Taking the key factors that affect the heat transfer of microfluidic chips in similar studies, such as the sample volume in the chip PCR chamber, the thickness of the bonding film on both sides, and the heat transfer specific surface area, as an example, the specific design parameters of the chip were determined, thereby achieving a significant increase in the temperature change speed of biological reagents. Fast and accurate thermal cycles can complete PCR reactions in a shorter time and ensure that the temperature between different PCR cycles is highly consistent. This helps to improve amplification efficiency, reduce nonspecific amplification, make the test results more accurate and reliable, and balance sensitivity and specificity.
The detection reagents used in the system have been carefully optimized, and specific primers and probes have been designed for different types of pathogen nucleic acids. These primers and probes can accurately identify the target nucleic acid sequence and reduce cross-reactions with other non-target nucleic acids, thereby improving the specificity of detection. At the same time, the formulation of the reagents has been optimized to perform at its best in the environment of the microfluidic chip, improving the amplification efficiency and detection sensitivity of pathogen nucleic acids.
The accordquick system uses real-time fluorescence quantitative detection technology to monitor the changes in fluorescence signals in real time during PCR amplification. Through the precise measurement and analysis of the fluorescence signal, the presence and content of the pathogen nucleic acid can be accurately determined. This real-time monitoring method can detect weak fluorescence signals in time and improve the sensitivity of detection. At the same time, by setting a reasonable fluorescence threshold and data analysis algorithm, the interference of nonspecific fluorescence signals can be eliminated to ensure the specificity of detection.
During the design and production of the system, strict quality control standards are followed. The manufacturing process of the microfluidic chip is strictly controlled to ensure the dimensional accuracy, surface quality and performance consistency of the chip. At the same time, the detection reagents are strictly quality tested to ensure the stability and accuracy of the reagents. In addition, the system may also be equipped with internal calibration and quality monitoring functions, which can monitor the performance of the system in real time during the detection process, detect and correct possible errors in time, and ensure the reliability of the detection results.
The system is equipped with professional data analysis algorithms that can accurately analyze and process the fluorescence signal data obtained by the detection. These algorithms can remove background noise, correct fluorescence signals, and improve the sensitivity of detection. At the same time, through learning and analyzing a large amount of known sample data, the algorithm can establish an accurate discrimination model to distinguish specific signals from non-specific signals, thereby ensuring the specificity of detection.
