MICROFLUIDICS
A lab on a chip
Source: ©Stanford University
Contents
A recent scienceNews
Applications in health
Microfluidic chips: analogy with computer chips
The market
Microfluidics and Nano-Tera
See Also
A recent science
Microfluidics deals with the behaviour, precise control and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small, typically sub-millimetre, scale (Wikipedia definition).Microfluidics is a recent field of research . The first developments in microfluidics were done for inkjet printers. Other applications based on portable microfluidic devices (PMDs) started seriously at the end of the 80's and beginning of the 90's, in the context of micro-sensors (also called MEMS) appearing at that time in the industry (airbags, pressure sensors). The first purpose of this technology was to create a 'Lab on Chip'. Labs on chips enable to make in parallels dozens of chemical or biological reactions at the same time, on a very small low-cost device. You can then have the result of a very complex suite of tests within a minute where it would last days if done by operators in a special clean room. Labs on Chips research was boosted in the 90's by the research on genomics,but also by the American army which started thinking of portable bio/chemical warfare agent detection systems.
Applications in health
Labs on chips enable to detect bacteria, viruses and cancers, to extract DNA from blood samples, or to test the impact of a chemical at every possible dose on a cell. Being low-cost, small, easy to use, the Lab on Chip device can help poorly equipped medical centres in third-world countries to develop systematic disease testing.Microfluidic chips: analogy with computer chips
Microfluidics devices are typically pieces of glass, the size of a coin, with micrometer-scale tunnels inside, in which liquids are constrained through microscopic actuators. These actuators can move liquids (micro-pumps), block them (micro-valves), mix them (micro-mixers and -agitators), heat them (micro-heaters), cool them, pressure them, etc.The whole process is controlled by a computer and powered by oil, water or air pressure. As every computer-commanded device, a microfluidics device can be programmed using a computer language. Scientists and engineers have developed low-level instruction sets to command the micro-actuators and on top of that language libraries in C and even in Java, a universal language used as well in finance as on your desktop PC and on smartcards.
Microfluidic chip vs. electronic chip
Source left: ©Epigem
Source right:
The analogy between microfluidics chips and computer chips goes beyond the use of a common programming language, since it is possible to model the basic components of a computer chips using liquids : transistors, RAM, processing unit, display can be designed using liquids and actuators. Microfluidics also has a Moore's law that has an even higher pace as in the computer industry : valve density (analogous to transistor density) doubles every 4 months! Scientists are thus already thinking of 'bio' fluid computers, generic fluidic modules that can be assembled in more complex ones, high level programming libraries than enable to use and reuse one's code on any microfluidic device.
@@{{image url="http://www.nano-tera.ch/nanoterawiki/images/MicroFluidics/rsc_lego.jpg" title="Reusable components assembly" alt="Reusable components assembly"}}
**The ideal of microfluidics is to assemble reusable components**
Source: Image reproduced by permission of Mark A Burns and The Royal Society of Chemistry
from Minsoung Rhee and Mark A. Burns, Lab Chip, 2008, 8, 1365, DOI: 10.1039/b805137b@@ ====News==== ==== UC Davis: Universal microfluidics connector could find broad use==== **{[[http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/ UC Davis, Biomedical Engineering]] / [[http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/people/departmental-faculty/profiles2/tingrui-pan/ Prof. Tingrui Pan]]}** (Nov 2010) The UC Davis scientists have developed a plug-in interface for the microfluidic chips that will form the basis of the next generation of compact medical devices... **[[[http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-usb-medical-diagnosis-universal-microfluidics.html 7]]]** ==== Harvard U.: A Paper Test for Liver Damage, A startup rolls out a cheap, disposable microfluidics test. ==== **{Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences / Prof. Ken Crozier}** (Feb 2010) With a silicone rubber "stick-on" sheet containing dozens of miniature, powerful lenses, engineers at Harvard are one step closer to putting the capacity of a large laboratory into a micro-sized package. **[[[http://www.physorg.com/news185550923.html 6]]]** ==== Diagnostics for All: A Paper Test for Liver Damage, A startup rolls out a cheap, disposable microfluidics test. ==== **{[[http://www.dfa.org/index.html Diagnostics for All]]/ Patrick Beattie, Product Development Scientist}** (June 2010) Diagnostics for All, a nonprofit startup in Cambridge, MA, has designed a cheap, disposable blood test for liver damage. The device uses a stack of paper the size of a postage stamp for a test of toxicity for drugs to treat HIV and tuberculosis. The startup is a spin-off from the George Whitesides lab at Harvard University, and holds exclusive license to diagnostic technologies **[[[http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/25536/?ref=rss&a=f 5]]]** ==== IBM: New chip could be used in easy and cheap diagnostic tests==== Nov 2009 Researchers at IBM have demonstrated a novel "lab on a chip" that uses capillary action to create a potential one-step diagnostic tool, and which could ultimately test for a wide range of diseases and viruses. The chip requires only a small drop of blood, which it draws through tiny channels within the device. The blood reacts with different disease markers to provide accurate diagnoses in about 15 minutes... **[[[http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24002/ 1]]]** ==== Dolomite: Glass Microfluidic Device for High Throughput Mixing and Reactions==== **{[[http://www.dolomite-microfluidics.com/ Dolomite]]/ Mark Gilligan, Founder }** June 2009 Dolomite has introduced the 1ml Microreactor Chip, a glass microfluidic device designed for the mixing and reacting of two or three liquid reagent streams. Ideal for solution phase chemistry, including compound synthesis and reaction kinetics studies, this chip enables rapid mixing across a wide range of flow rates. **[[[http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=33601 2]]]** ==== U. of Toronto: Novel Chip for Monitoring Breast Cancer==== **{University of Toronto/ [[http://www.chem.utoronto.ca/staff/WHEELER/html/Main.htm Aaron Wheeler]]}** Oct. 2009 A microfluidics chip that can easily detect estrogen levels in breast cancer patients could give physicians a new way to monitor the disease. The chip, developed by scientists at the University of Toronto, uses electrical signals to move droplets of fluids around a microfluidics circuit, and it requires a blood or tissue sample 1,000 times smaller than that required by current methods. **[[[http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/24217/ 3]]]**
from Minsoung Rhee and Mark A. Burns, Lab Chip, 2008, 8, 1365, DOI: 10.1039/b805137b@@ ====News==== ==== UC Davis: Universal microfluidics connector could find broad use==== **{[[http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/ UC Davis, Biomedical Engineering]] / [[http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/people/departmental-faculty/profiles2/tingrui-pan/ Prof. Tingrui Pan]]}** (Nov 2010) The UC Davis scientists have developed a plug-in interface for the microfluidic chips that will form the basis of the next generation of compact medical devices... **[[[http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-usb-medical-diagnosis-universal-microfluidics.html 7]]]** ==== Harvard U.: A Paper Test for Liver Damage, A startup rolls out a cheap, disposable microfluidics test. ==== **{Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences / Prof. Ken Crozier}** (Feb 2010) With a silicone rubber "stick-on" sheet containing dozens of miniature, powerful lenses, engineers at Harvard are one step closer to putting the capacity of a large laboratory into a micro-sized package. **[[[http://www.physorg.com/news185550923.html 6]]]** ==== Diagnostics for All: A Paper Test for Liver Damage, A startup rolls out a cheap, disposable microfluidics test. ==== **{[[http://www.dfa.org/index.html Diagnostics for All]]/ Patrick Beattie, Product Development Scientist}** (June 2010) Diagnostics for All, a nonprofit startup in Cambridge, MA, has designed a cheap, disposable blood test for liver damage. The device uses a stack of paper the size of a postage stamp for a test of toxicity for drugs to treat HIV and tuberculosis. The startup is a spin-off from the George Whitesides lab at Harvard University, and holds exclusive license to diagnostic technologies **[[[http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/25536/?ref=rss&a=f 5]]]** ==== IBM: New chip could be used in easy and cheap diagnostic tests==== Nov 2009 Researchers at IBM have demonstrated a novel "lab on a chip" that uses capillary action to create a potential one-step diagnostic tool, and which could ultimately test for a wide range of diseases and viruses. The chip requires only a small drop of blood, which it draws through tiny channels within the device. The blood reacts with different disease markers to provide accurate diagnoses in about 15 minutes... **[[[http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24002/ 1]]]** ==== Dolomite: Glass Microfluidic Device for High Throughput Mixing and Reactions==== **{[[http://www.dolomite-microfluidics.com/ Dolomite]]/ Mark Gilligan, Founder }** June 2009 Dolomite has introduced the 1ml Microreactor Chip, a glass microfluidic device designed for the mixing and reacting of two or three liquid reagent streams. Ideal for solution phase chemistry, including compound synthesis and reaction kinetics studies, this chip enables rapid mixing across a wide range of flow rates. **[[[http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=33601 2]]]** ==== U. of Toronto: Novel Chip for Monitoring Breast Cancer==== **{University of Toronto/ [[http://www.chem.utoronto.ca/staff/WHEELER/html/Main.htm Aaron Wheeler]]}** Oct. 2009 A microfluidics chip that can easily detect estrogen levels in breast cancer patients could give physicians a new way to monitor the disease. The chip, developed by scientists at the University of Toronto, uses electrical signals to move droplets of fluids around a microfluidics circuit, and it requires a blood or tissue sample 1,000 times smaller than that required by current methods. **[[[http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/24217/ 3]]]**