Scientists Prepare Disposable Lab-on-a-Chip for Diagnosis at POC

The SEMOFS scientists reported that it has made the greatest progress in two areas--microfluidics and plasmonics. Microfluidics includes techniques for controlling the movement of minute quantities of fluids. The SEMOFS card moves blood, serum, and other fluids through channels slightly wider than a human hair. Once the biologic sample and the fluids necessary to process it have interacted in the proper sequence, the device uses plasmonics to determine if proteins from the sample have bonded to the detecting surfaces inside the card.

The scientists plan to pack everything, light sources and detector, waveguides, and the microfluidic system, into one polymer-based card. The electronics that will read the cards and display the results will be a separate unit. "We are targeting state-of-the-art sensitivities or better,” stated Jerôme Gavillet, the dissemination coordinator of SEMOFS, "in a system that could be available anywhere for less than EUR 50.”

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