Researchers get closer to 'labs on a chip'

Thomas Jones amplifies a single water droplet on a computer screen for analysis.

team of researchers at the University, led by Thomas Jones, professor of electrical engineering, is working on a new way to move and distribute microscopic amounts of fluid around a chip.

The research is in response to a growing demand for "laboratories on a chip," devices that perform lab tests on small amounts of material--on site and more efficiently than ever before.

The new technique investigated by Jones and his team uses the electrostatic attraction of water to divide a single drop of water into dozens of micro-droplets that can be used for specialized testing.

In the same way that miniaturization changed computers from room-sized machines to pocket-size digital assistants, techniques such as the one being developed by Jones, suggest similar changes are ahead for chemistry and the biological sciences. Microlab technology holds the promise that soon investigators will be able to analyze individual cells or test experimental drugs in minutes.

"Microscopic analysis is a rapidly advancing field, but while there are some ways to test minuscule amounts of material, no one has yet come up with a practical way to get that material to these microscopic test sites," says Jones. "We're hoping to change all that."

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