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

Low-cost, disposable cartridges would allow doctors to perform diagnostic tests at the point-of-care and speed up diagnosis and treatment.

European scientists are rapidly approaching their goal of producing a polymer-based device the size of a credit card that would be able to control the movement of biologic fluids, detect the presence of specific proteins, for example early signs of cancer, and analyze the results.

Scientists from Surface Enhanced Micro Optical Fluidic Systems, a consortium of multidisciplinary expertise divided among eight partners and five European countries, are working towards their goal of low cost disposable cartridges capable of quickly and accurately performing complex medical diagnostic tests.

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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