Microfluidic system integration in sample preparation chip-sets - a summary.

An increasing complexity of microfluidic chips and systems used for biochemical assay applications calls for the development of new strategies towards their functionality integration in order to achieve optimum assay performance. Approaches to an integration of microfluidic chips into diagnostic fluidic systems are reviewed with the emphasis on the selection of assay application, integration scheme, interfacing, and fabrication platform. In particular, we discuss a system containing polymer microfluidic chip-sets capable of cell pre-concentration from a complex sample matrix using immunomagnetic separations.