Sun Yat sen University's Zhou Jianhua team: Integrated chip for rapid detection of multiple pathogenic microorganisms simultaneously through "sample in result out"
7月 15, 2026
Recently, Professor Zhou Jianhua's team from the School of Biomedical Engineering at Sun Yat sen University published a research paper in the journal Sensors and Actors B: Chemical, reporting an integrated microfluidic chips for graphene nucleic acid detection, aimed at achieving ultra fast detection of multiple microorganisms. With the help of this chip, the nucleic acid extraction and detection process can be efficiently and quickly completed within 9 minutes, and the presence of multiple microorganisms can be detected simultaneously.
With the increasing importance of microbial nucleic acid testing in disease diagnosis and medical research, traditional detection methods face challenges such as large equipment, complex operation, and long time consumption. In this context, integrated nucleic acid testing technology has emerged, integrating the entire process of nucleic acid testing and achieving rapid detection of "sample in result out", providing a more convenient and efficient solution for microbial identification and disease diagnosis. The significant advantages of integrated nucleic acid testing technology include the use of a fully enclosed system, which avoids the hidden dangers of aerosol pollution, and eliminates dependence on complex laboratory sites, making it widely applicable in various settings such as emergency departments, community hospitals, and even households. The "sample in result out" mode reduces the operation process, is easy to operate, and lowers labor costs. At present, research on integrated nucleic acid testing technology is still ongoing. Although some progress has been made, there is still a need to overcome issues such as large equipment, complex design, and long detection time.
In order to solve the above problems, Professor Zhou Jianhua's team has developed an integrated graphene nucleic acid detection microfluidic chips for ultra fast detection of various microorganisms. The chip design is simple and consists of only two main areas: the electrocatalytic extraction area and the isothermal amplification detection area. In the electrocatalytic extraction area, microorganisms pass through graphene forked electrodes and are rapidly electroporated to break down and release nucleic acids under alternating electric fields. Subsequently, the released nucleic acid solution is squeezed into the isothermal amplification detection zone, where the LAMP isothermal amplification reaction is achieved by using graphene heating electrodes to control the temperature, and the nucleic acid is detected by recording the changes in the fluorescence signal of the reaction solution.
The research results show that the graphene interdigital electrode in the electrocatalytic region of the chip, as a thick and stable electrode, provides an electric field that enables the bacterial lysis and nucleic acid extraction process to take only 1 second. The fluorescence photos and fluorescence change curves of the isothermal amplification detection area indicate that the amplification time of Helicobacter pylori at 10 copies/μ L does not exceed 9 minutes, greatly reducing the total detection time.
In addition, the microfluidic chips has three parallel detection channels, which can simultaneously detect multiple microorganisms such as Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, and Helicobacter pylori within 9 minutes.
Therefore, this integrated chip has multiple advantages such as ultra fast, multi-target detection, simple design, and low cost, providing effective detection tools for various on-site real-time detection environments. With the further development of technology, this integrated nucleic acid detection chip is expected to provide more convenient and efficient solutions for fields such as microbial identification and disease diagnosis.
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