Nano-BioChips: Getting the Chips Out of the Lab

The vast majority of efforts ongoing now in the area of chip-based sensors involve array sensors that are supported by laboratory confined manipulations and sophisticated instrumentation.

Most chip systems are dedicated to a single test modality. Perhaps the best known example is that of the "gene chip" that has been pioneered by Affymetrix. These powerful gene chips require the completion of about three days of labor intensive sample processing steps followed by laser scanning of the processed gene chip using a dedicated laser scanner instrument.

As such, these systems are better described as "chips in the lab". While powerful tools for the initial discovery event, once this discovery is completed, a new testing infrastructure is required to complete the assays on a more frequent and more practical basis.

At UT, the McDevitt laboratory has focused on the next essential step of "getting the chips out of the lab". To accomplish this goal, a series of new integration challenges arise as attempts are made to create the "true lab-on-a-chip" system with complete feature set and integrated components that eliminate fully the macroscopic lab-based infrastructure. Key to get the chips out of the lab and the lab on the chip is the development of methods to bridge the various distance scales.