Lab on a chip: A brief history

In the early 1960s, several research groups started working on miniaturized silicon sensors. An early integrated LOC device was a complete gas chromatograph on a single 'chip' developed at Stanford University and published in 1979. This new tool was 'expected to find application in the areas of portable ambient air quality monitors, implanted biological experiments, and planetary probes'. The expectations for LOC have been realized repeatedly in the laboratory and commercial applications are beginning to be realized (Herold and Rasooly 2009. Lab-on-a-Chip Technology. Caister Academic Press ISBN: 978-1-904455-47-9).

In the 1980s and 1990s the LOC field moved rapidly and in the last decade approximately 3500 LOC related publications are indexed in Pubmed describing numerous fabrication methods and new applications using a broad array of technologies. The trend is towards more complex integrated multi-analyte LOC systems capable of more comprehensive analyses, utilizing advances in electronics and microfabrication that enable miniaturization and broader capabilities. The newest generation of LOC systems includes a miniaturized chip for isolation of rare circulating tumour cells in cancer patients and complex LOC devices utilizing valving technologies that provide dense fabrication and parallel pneumatic actuation of hundreds of valves.

Bibliography:

1. Lab-on-a-Chip Technology: Fabrication and Microfluidics
2. Lab-on-a-Chip Technology: Biomolecular Separation and Analysis

Lab-on-a-chip Technology