Filtration and fl uid control
Filtration and fl uid control
Advances in the science of microfl uidics have led to a whole raft of novel devices. But due to considerations like complexity and cost, many of the teams behind the devices have been unable to produce them at scale. What are the major barriers to commercialisation, and what can be done to overcome them? Abi Millar fi nds out from Nikolaj Gadegaard, professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Glasgow, and Henne van Heeren, owner of enablingMNT.
A side of chips M
icrofluidics has long been touted as a game-changer for medical devices. While the technology has existed since the 1980s, over the past decade or so researchers have pushed the bounds of what is possible. From lab-on-a-chip diagnostics to novel techniques combining microfluidics with CRISPR-based gene editing methods, the field underpins a host of emerging applications.
As the name implies, microfluidic devices can perform fluid analysis in the realm of the very small. A chip will contain tiny microchannels, often thinner than a human hair, which enable the processing and analysis of a given liquid. You might be able to diagnose cancer using a single drop of blood, or identify Covid-19 from a single swab of the nose.
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“Microfluidics came from trying to handle smaller volumes more easily and quickly than you would with most standardised equipment,” explains Nikolaj Gadegaard, professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Glasgow. “In the biomedical arena, reagents can be expensive, and you really don’t want to drain a patient of litres of blood. So small volumes have always been very desirable.”
Speed is important too. As soon as you reduce the dimensions of the systems you’re working with, you also accelerate the analysis time, simply because your molecules have a shorter distance to travel before reacting. More importantly, you can perform the tests on the spot, rather than waiting to receive results from a lab.
Medical Device Developments /
www.nsmedicaldevices.com
LDarin/
Shutterstock.com
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