// Meridian — Article reading page const MA = window.MERIDIAN; const { Wordmark, ArcMark, Eyebrow, RuleBadge } = window; // Article data window.ARTICLE = { section: 'Research · Neurobiology', title: 'A cell-free microfluidic assay for quantifying amyloid-β aggregation kinetics in pre-symptomatic Alzheimer cohorts', doi: '10.xxxx/mer.2026.0003', vol: 'Vol. 01 · Issue 01', received: '14 Mar 2026', accepted: '02 Apr 2026', published: '14 Apr 2026', wordCount: 8421, figures: 6, authors: [ { name: 'Sarah Chen', affil: 1, orcid: '0000-0002-1825-0097', corr: true }, { name: 'Miguel Ortega', affil: 1, orcid: '0000-0001-5109-3700' }, { name: 'Priya Raman', affil: 2, orcid: '0000-0003-1415-9265' }, { name: 'Hannes Vogel', affil: 3, orcid: '0000-0002-7531-8642' }, ], affils: [ 'Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA', 'Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA', 'European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany', ], reviewers: [ { name: 'Prof. Amara Okonkwo', affil: 'Stanford Neurobiology', round: 1, doi: '10.xxxx/mer.rev.2026.0003.a', verdict: 'Revise & resubmit' }, { name: 'Dr. Hiroshi Tanaka', affil: 'Keio University Hospital', round: 1, doi: '10.xxxx/mer.rev.2026.0003.b', verdict: 'Minor revisions' }, { name: 'Prof. Elena Vasquez', affil: 'Johns Hopkins BSPH', round: 2, doi: '10.xxxx/mer.rev.2026.0003.c', verdict: 'Accept' }, ], outline: [ ['§1', 'Introduction', 0], ['§2', 'A cell-free microfluidic platform', 1], ['§3', 'Resolving aggregation in 42 minutes', 1], ['§4', 'Longitudinal cohort validation', 0], ['§5', 'Discussion', 0], ['§6', 'Methods', 0], ['§7', 'Data availability', 0], ], }; // ───────────────── Topbar ───────────────── window.ArticleTopbar = function ArticleTopbar() { return ( ); }; // ───────────────── Left outline rail ───────────────── window.ArticleRail = function ArticleRail() { const A = window.ARTICLE; return ( ); }; // ───────────────── Article body ───────────────── window.ArticleBody = function ArticleBody() { const A = window.ARTICLE; return (
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Research article Peer reviewed Open data Version 2

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* Corresponding author · sarah.chen@stanford.edu
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Abstract

Early detection of amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregation remains a central obstacle in pre-symptomatic Alzheimer diagnostics. Existing modalities — positron emission tomography, cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers — are either invasive, expensive, or insensitive to the rapid oligomeric phase preceding fibril formation. Here we report a cell-free microfluidic assay capable of resolving Aβ aggregation kinetics within 42 minutes, enabling longitudinal monitoring without tissue sampling. In a pilot cohort of 42 pre-symptomatic participants…

{/* Body sections */} {[ { h: '§1 · Introduction', p: 'Alzheimer\'s disease progresses silently for one to two decades before clinical presentation. During this window, amyloid-β oligomers accumulate in soluble forms that existing imaging modalities cannot resolve with the sensitivity needed to support pre-symptomatic intervention trials [1,2]. The gap between pathological onset and diagnostic certainty is perhaps the central obstacle to disease-modifying therapeutics.' }, { h: '§2 · A cell-free microfluidic platform', p: 'We engineered a two-channel microfluidic device (Fig. 1a) in which recombinant Aβ₄₂ monomer is introduced at physiological concentration alongside thioflavin-T, a fluorescent aggregation reporter. Channel geometry maintains laminar flow at Reynolds numbers below 0.8, ensuring that measured kinetics reflect intrinsic aggregation rather than convective mixing.' }, ].map((s, i) => (

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{[0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1].map(t => ( {Math.round(t * 42)} ))} {/* curves */} Cohort + Cohort ± Control TIME (MIN)
FIG 1{' '} Aggregation kinetics across three cohorts. Pre-symptomatic participants with later progression (n = 14) showed a characteristic lag-phase shortening relative to age-matched controls.
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"The lag-phase shortening preceded detectable amyloid-PET positivity by a median of 2.8 years — a window wide enough for intervention trials to matter."

§3 · Resolving aggregation in 42 minutes

Real-time fluorescence readout enabled kinetic fitting to a modified Finke–Watzky two-step model, capturing both nucleation and elongation rate constants. Across three biological replicates, the assay resolved the lag phase with a coefficient of variation below 8%.

The 42-minute completion time represents a >60-fold speed improvement over standard thioflavin-T plate assays. Throughput of 96 samples per device-hour compares favorably with PET imaging — and without the attendant radioligand exposure.

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§ Revision timeline · 31 days from submission to publication

How this article actually evolved.

14 MAR — SUBMITTED
02 APR — ACCEPTED
14 APR — PUBLISHED
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How to cite
Chen, S., Ortega, M., Raman, P., & Vogel, H. (2026). A cell-free microfluidic assay for quantifying amyloid-β aggregation kinetics in pre-symptomatic Alzheimer cohorts. Meridian, 1(1). https://doi.org/{A.doi}
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