Research Mission - McDevitt Research Labs UT Austin

Goal #1: To develop the next generation of lab-on-a-chip sensor systems that are affordable and accessible to all human kind.

The inventors of the lab-on-a-chip technologies and the University of Texas at Austin have made a strong commitment to the development of the science and engineering bases that will enable the creation of an infrastructure that will enable more efficient testing of a variety of analyte classes of societal importance. The inventors and UT share the goal of making these systems broadly accessible and affordable for the good of humankind worldwide. In this spirit, the University of Texas at Austin has foregone all royalty payments on first generation of products that will be released in resource scarce settings. The inventors and UT are dedicated to the broad scale release of this exciting new technology and have made a commitment above and beyond that which is normally associated with academic research...read more.

Goal #2: To develop the standard modular assay system that can be readily expanded to new analytes.

Traditionally, medical devices require three to five years in development time at the cost of $20 to $60 million to develop a single product with analysis capabilities dedicated to one analyte. The University of Texas at Austin nano-bio-chip approach provides a platform methodology whereby a common core can be adapted to new application areas quickly and efficiently. Efforts are now underway to integrate all elements of sample collection, fluid handling, sample separation, reagent deployment, analyte detection and waste storage. The science and engineering bases that enable the development of the next generation of multiplexed sensors spanning numerous analyte classes will be the focus of activities in this area. These pioneering efforts in the area of nano-bio-chip have been featured recently in Business Week for the cover story on Nanotechnology developments...read more.

Goal #3: To get the "chips out of the lab", thereby enabling the development of first "true lab-on-a-chip systems."

Despite significant advances in the development of miniaturized sensing and analytical devices for use in clinical and biomedical applications, the ability to interface individual components to achieve a high level of integration continues to pose a challenge for the scientific community as a whole. Even more difficult is the prospect of creating a modular standard "microfluidic tool kit" that can be adapted in a simple and rapid manner to new applications and new assays as needed. To be useful here the components must be scalable and suitable for integration into modular tests units. Towards this goal, the McDevitt laboratory is working actively to develop and refine a number of miniaturized sensor concepts and methodologies that are suitable for a variety of important application areas...read more.