Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
Low-Cost Microdevices for Point-of-Care
Te s t i n g
Curtis D. Chin, Sau Yin Chin, Tassaneewan Laksanasopin,
and Samuel K. Sia
Abstract
Microdevices enable clinical diagnostics to be miniaturized for use at the
point-of-care (POC). Microdevices can be composed of microfilters, microchannels,
microarrays, micropumps, microvalves, and microelectronics, and these mechanical
and electrical components can be integrated onto chips to analyze and control
biological objects at the microscale. The miniaturization of diagnostic tests offers
many advantages over centralized laboratory testing, such as small reagent volumes,
rapid analysis, small size, low power consumption, parallel analysis, and functional
integration of multiple devices. Here, we review work on the development of
microdevices to diagnose disease at POC settings.
1.1
Introduction
An exciting application of microdevices is miniaturized clinical diagnostic methods
for point-of-care testing. Microdevices are defined as systems which employ analyt-
ical components and techniques at microscopic scales (ranging from 1 to 500m),
including microfilters, microchannels, microarrays, micropumps, microvalves, and
bioelectronic chips [
1
,
2
]. Advantages over tests in centralized laboratories include
small reagent volumes, rapid analysis, small size, low power consumption, parallel
analysis, and functional integration of multiple devices [
3
-
5
]. Because of these
advantages, microdevices are capable of being
low cost and portable
- two qualities
critical for implementation of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics.
POC tests are important in settings where timing is critical (e.g., emergency
triage), where laboratory facilities are nonexistent (e.g., military or extraterrestrial
C.D. Chin
S.K. Sia (
)
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, 351 Engineering Terrace,
1210 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, USA
e-mail:
ss2735@columbia.edu
S.Y. Chin
T. Laksanasopin
