Case Study: University of Illinois achieves rapid, production-ready point-of-care diagnostics with Carbon DLS

The University of Illinois Develops Faster, More Efficient Point-of-Care Diagnostics With Fast Radius Using Carbon

The University of Illinois faced the urgent need for fast, portable point-of-care COVID-19 diagnostics but ran up against the years-long development cycles and high tooling costs typical of microfluidic cartridges. Working with Fast Radius and using Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis™ (Carbon DLS™) technology and RPU 70 material, the team aimed to accelerate R&D and produce a production-ready microfluidic diagnostic that could be used outside traditional labs.

Using Carbon DLS™, Fast Radius designed, printed, and validated a patented microfluidic cartridge with a 3D internal serpentine channel that improves mixing and is less than half the size of the prior 2D version—doubling portability. With Carbon’s process and RPU 70, the team moved from concept to a working diagnostic in five weeks, testing about 10 iterations across four 24‑hour design/test/print cycles, producing a production-ready device without costly tooling and compressing years of development time (and potential millions in tooling) into weeks.

University of Illinois