Magnetic nanochain integrated microfluidic biochips.

Microfluidic biochips hold great potential for liquid analysis in biomedical research and clinical diagnosis. However, the lack of integrated on-chip liquid mixing, bioseparation and signal transduction presents a major challenge in achieving rapid, ultrasensitive bioanalysis in simple microfluidic configurations. Here we report magnetic nanochain integrated microfluidic chip built upon the synergistic functions of the nanochains as nanoscale stir bars for rapid liquid mixing and as capturing agents for specific bioseparation. The use of magnetic nanochains enables a simple planar design of the microchip consisting of flat channels free of common built-in components, such as liquid mixers and surface-anchored sensing elements. The microfluidic assay, using surface-enhanced Raman scattering nanoprobes for signal transduction, allows for streamlined parallel analysis of multiple specimens with greatly improved assay kinetics and delivers ultrasensitive identification and quantification of a panel of cancer protein biomarkers and bacterial species in 1 μl of body fluids within 8 min.