Soon, new home lab-on-a-chip kit for checking illnesses, food ...

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Soon, new home lab-on-a-chip kit for checking illnesses, foodcontaminants
Washington | July 25, 2008 11:53:57 AM IST

University of Michigan engineers are seeking to develop a"lab-on-a-chip" kit that people can assemble on their own.
The simple 16-piece kit brings microfluidic devices to thescientific masses and may soon lead to a new generation of instanthome tests for illnesses, food contaminants and toxic gases.MarkBurns, a professor in the departments of Biomedical Engineering andChemical Engineering who developed the device with graduate studentMinsoung Rhee claimed that the kit cuts the costs involved and thetime it takes to make a microfluidic device from days to minutes.
"In a lot of fields, there can be significant scientific advancesmade using microfluidic devices and I think that has been hinderedbecause it does take some degree of skill and equipment to makethese devices. This new system is almost like Lego blocks. Youdon't need any fabrication skills to put them together," saidBurns.
A lab-on-a-chip integrates multiple laboratory functions onto onechip just millimeters or centimeters in size. It is usually made ofnano-scale pumps, chambers and channels etched into glass or metal.These microfluidic devices operate with miniscule drops of liquidand allow researchers to conduct quick, efficient experiments.
They can be engineered to mimic the human body more closely thanthe Petri dish does. They're useful in growing and testing cells,among other applications.
But Burns' system offers six-by-six millimeter blocks etched withdifferent arrangements of grooves researchers can use to make acustom device by sticking them to a piece of glass.
Block designs include inlets, straight channels, Ts, Ys,pitchforks, crosses, 90-degree curves, chambers, connectors(imprinted with a block M for Michigan), zigzags, cell culture bedsand various valves. The blocks can be used more than once.
Burns said that most of the microfluidic devices required by lifescientists currently need a simple channel network design that canbe easily accomplished with this new system. For showing theviability of his system, he successfully grew E. coli cells in oneof these modular devices.
Burns believes microfluidics will go the way of computers, smallerand more personal as technology advances. (ANI)