Medical diagnosis/Lab-on-a-chip
Biochips to diagnose diseases in tissue or blood samples may largely replace test-tubes. The entire lab can be conducted on the chip, called lab-on-a-chip, rather than add external tubing to detecting or measuring devices.[1]
Researchers are developing a way to test glucose levels of saliva, as a way of replacing blood tests to measure glucose.[2]
Diagnoses can be made more quickly and more accurately with biochips. Cancers can be detected through biochips before symptoms occur.[3]
Learning Task
[edit | edit source]thumb|International Space Station - Medical Experiments - Lab-on-a-Chip
- Explore the benefits and challenges of a Lab-on-a-chip application?
- On the International Space Station Lab-on-a-chip experiments can be performed. It is small group of astronauts that maintain a huge number of experiments in a limited time span and under resource constrainted conditions. Compare the Lab-on-a-chip application in a terrestial and outer space environment!
- Compare Lab-on-a-chip application in medical environment with Lab-on-a-chip application e.g. environmental sciences!
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ New blood analysis chip could lead to disease diagnosis in minutes, University of California Berkeley, March 2011
- ↑ Biochip measures glucose in saliva, not blood, Brown University, Jan 23, 2012
- ↑ Sagoff, Jared (May 9, 2008), Biochips can detect cancers before symptoms develop