Nano Medicine Program

Nano to Global: Bridging the Distance Scales

The key to getting the chips out of the lab lies in the development of new nano-chemistry methods as well as devising practical strategies to bridge the various length scales. This indeed had been one of the major challenges that plagued the scientific community as a whole. The major question here has been how do you access the information that is encoded in these ultra-small structures?

The bio-nano-chips can be customized for given applications and contain reagents and waste on the credit card sized disposable units.  A portable reader receives the card and completes the analysis. A list of components for the reader are provided here. All such elements are inexpensive and small. This view graph provides some insight into how we accomplish this feat in the context of the bio-nano-chip sensor systems:

• At the nano regime, AB's are used to sequester the specific analytes. Also, Q-dots serve as labels for detection of proteins.
• At the micro regime, microfluidic elements are used to deliver the fluids and porous microbeads are used to deliver and capture these analytes.
• At the millimeter regime, transfer optics work in conjunction video chips to record digital signals that are interpreted with specialized software for qualitative and quantitative analysis.
• The global perspective is achieved upon transfer of this information to a web-based data management. Here the geographical perspective of disease and bioterrorism management and containment can be recorded.