Integrated self-regulating resistive heating for isothermal nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) in Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) devices

Isothermal nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) in a Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) format promise to bring high-accuracy, non-instrumented rapid tests to the point of care. Reliable rapid tests for infectious diseases allow for early diagnosis and treatment, which in turn enables better containment of potential outbreaks and fewer complications. A critical component to LoC NAATs is the heating element, as all NAAT protocols require incubation at elevated temperatures. We propose a cheap, integrated, self-regulating resistive heating solution that uses 2xAAA alkaline batteries as the power source, can maintain temperatures in the 60–63°C range for at least 25 minutes, and reaches the target range from room temperature in 5 minutes. 4 heating element samples with different electrical characteristics were evaluated in a thermal mock-up for a LoC NAAT device. An optimal heating element candidate was chosen based on temperature profiling. The optimal candidate was further evaluated by thermal modelling via finite element analysis of heat transfer and demonstrated suitable for isothermal nucleic acid amplification.