Lab-on-a-chip technology ‘can reduce the cost of medical testing’

A new miniaturised lab-on-a-chip device has shown potential as a means of replacing benchtop assays for detecting numerous common diseases.

Created by Rutgers University, the system employs microfluidics technology and is only three inches long and an inch wide, around the size of a glass microscope slide.

It is able to perform complex analyses using 90 percent less sample fluid than is needed in conventional tests, as well as requiring only one-tenth of the chemicals used in a conventional multiplex immunoassay.

Since it also automates much of the skilled labour involved in performing tests, it can potentially significantly reduce the cost of sophisticated lab tests for medical disorders and diseases such as HIV, Lyme disease and syphilis.

This is important, as research into many conditions is limited by the fact it is difficult or impossible to extract sufficient quantities of spinal, joint or synovial fluid to perform conventional tests.

Martin Yarmush, professor of biomedical engineering at Rutgers University, said: "With our technology, researchers will be able to perform large-scale controlled studies with comparable accuracy to conventional assays."