Sensor Fusion: Unleashing the Potential of Microfluidics in Next-Generation Drug Screening Platforms

Abstract

Drug discovery and development is a long, complex, and expensive process with high failure rates. The current reliance on conventional screening methods is inefficient for testing large compound libraries. Microfluidics offers unique advantages for highly parallel and automated experimentation with low sample consumption. However, single measurement modalities have limited analytical power. Sensor fusion is an emerging approach that integrates multiple sensing principles on the same microfluidic platform, exploiting synergies between techniques to unlock the full potential of microfluidics for drug screening. This paper reviews sensor fusion strategies in microfluidic systems and discusses recent advances enabling next-generation high-throughput, high-content drug screening. We examine different integration approaches for optical, electrochemical, mechanical, thermal, and mass spectrometry sensors, highlighting key applications in target binding assays, enzymatic assays, cell-based assays, pharmacokinetic profiling, and toxicity testing. The emergence of organ-on-a-chip and body-on-a-chip devices incorporating multiple organ equivalents aided by sensor fusion heralds exciting possibilities for more predictive drug testing. We conclude with an outlook on future opportunities and challenges, underlining the vast possibilities for sensor fusion strategies to transform drug screening.