APHRODITE: Design and Preliminary Tests of an Autonomous and Reusable Photo-sensing Device for Immunological Test aboard the International Space Station

Preliminary results of the design and manufacturing of APHRODITE, a compact and versatile device for carrying out analyses of biological fluids during space missions that will be used as a technological demonstrator on board the International Space Station (ISS) for the quantitative determination of salivary biomarkers indicators of alterations of functionality of the immune system. The paper addresses the design of the main subsystems of the analytical device and the preliminary results obtained during the first implementations of the device subsystems and testing measurements. In particular, the system design and the experiment data output of the lab-on-chip photosensors and of the front-end readout electronics are reported in detail

In-orbit Characterization of a Lab- on-Chip Payload with Integrated Thin-Film Photosensors for Chemiluminescent Immunoassays aboard the AstroBio CubeSat Mission

Preliminary results of the in-orbit characterization of an analytical payload based on a lab-on-chip device with integrated thin-film photosensors relying on chemiluminescence immunoassay is presented. The paper addresses the characterization of the main components of the analytical system based on data acquired during the AstroBio CubeSat mission launched aboard the Vega-C maiden flight in summer 2022. In particular, the performances of the on-chip thin-film sensors and the lab-on-chip front-end readout electronics are reported in detail confirming the suitability of the proposed technology for space application