Magnetic Digital Microfluidics for Point-of-Care Testing: Where Are We Now?

Point-of-care (POC) testing decentralizes the diagnostic tests to the sites near the patient. Many POC tests rely on microfluidic platforms for sample-to-answer analysis. Compared to other microfluidic systems, magnetic digital microfluidics demonstrate compelling advantages for POC diagnostics. In this review, we have examined the capability of magnetic digital microfluidics-based POC diagnostic platforms. More importantly, we have categorized POC settings into three classes based on “where is the point”, “who to care” and “how to test”, and evaluated the suitability of magnetic digital microfluidics in various POC settings. Furthermore, we have addressed other technical issues associated with POC testing, such as controlled environment, sample-system interface, system integration and information connectivity. We hope this review would provide a guideline for the future development of magnetic digital microfluidics-based platforms for POC testing.