In Part 3 of How to Design a Microfluidic,  we discuss our experience with a number of programs and clients, and how to meet programmatic needs while satisfying the need to address Design for Manufacture, and Scale-up for Development. A better title for this section is “Troubleshooting and Lessons Learned”.

Let’s just put the conclusion to all this up front; the real challenge in any program we have ever worked on is never about getting the microfluidics to work as needed. It is always about getting the assay to perform in a repeatable fashion because of the sample matrix or the choice of front-end sample prep designs which have not been fully vetted before being integrated into the complete cartridge design. Sometimes there are instrument integration issues, or issues with fixtures that are not as robust as needed. Sometimes it’s just more training to recognize how to troubleshoot the system.

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