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Microfluidics

In 1990, Manz et al. first proposed the concept of a micro-total analysis system, which opened up a research boom in microfluidic chip technology. In 2006, Nature magazine published the "Lab on a Chip" album, which explained the research history, current status and application prospects of chip laboratories from different perspectives. In 2017, the Ministry of Science and Technology positioned microfluidic chips as a "disruptive technology", and an important branch of microfluidic chips - organ chips - was rated by the World Economic Forum as one of the world's "top ten emerging technologies" in 2016.

Microfluidics is a science and technology characterized by the precise manipulation of fluids in micro-nanoscale space. It has the ability to miniaturize the basic functions of biological and chemical laboratories such as sample preparation, reaction, separation and detection to a chip of a few square centimeters. Its basic characteristics and greatest advantages are the flexible combination and scale integration of multiple unit technologies on an overall controllable micro-platform. More specifically, microfluidics is a systematic science and technology that uses pipes with a scale of tens to hundreds of microns to process or manipulate very small amounts of fluids.

This technology will bring disruptive breakthroughs in the diagnosis fields of genetics, immunity, microbiology and clinical chemistry, making it possible to diagnose and prevent many diseases that threaten human health, such as cancer and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, at an early stage. The combination of biochips and biological targeted drugs will promote clinical medicine to move towards personalized medical diagnosis and treatment.

Microfluidic chip

Microfluidic chip, also known as Lab-on-a-Chip or biochip. It uses MEMS technology to miniaturize a large laboratory system on a glass or plastic substrate, thereby replicating the entire process of complex biological and chemical reactions and completing experiments quickly and automatically. Its characteristics are that channels, reaction chambers and other functional components that contain fluids are constructed at the micron scale, and the movement process of micron-volume fluids in a small space is manipulated to build a complete chemical or biological laboratory.

The future of microfluidic technology

These advantages of microfluidic chip laboratory technology encourage people to conduct extensive research in clinical diagnostic POCT to detect various types of analytes, such as proteins, cells, nucleic acids and metabolites. Therefore, miniaturized, automated, reagent-preloaded, commercializable, high-throughput, environment-independent, and disposable devices have emerged. In addition, their development will move towards personalized medicine, genetic screening, and critical care, and may even be combined with artificial intelligence.