High parallelism, portability, and broad accessibility

Abstract

Biotechnology is an area of great innovations that promises to have deep impact on everyday life thanks to profound changes in biology, medicine, and health care. This article will span from the description of the biochemical principles of molecular biology to the definition of the physics that supports the technology and to the devices and algorithms necessary to observe molecular events in a controlled, portable, and highly parallel manner. Throughout this discussion, constant attention will be given to the ultimate goals and applications of these innovations as well as to the related issues.

Joint analysis of transcriptional and post- transcriptional brain tumor data: searching for emergent properties of cellular systems

“…Currently, it is possible to observe the activity (over-, under- expression, presence or absence of mutations) of almost all molecules of a given type (mRNA, miRNA, DNA) in a single screen using high-density chips [ 1 ], or sequencing related techniques [ 2 , 3 ]. Lately, the number of studies using microarray platforms for analysis of mRNA are quickly being followed by similar analyses related to miRNAs [ 4 , 5 ].…”

Biochips for Regenerative Medicine: Real-time Stem Cell Continuous Monitoring as Inferred by High-Throughput Gene Analysis

“…Nevertheless, we understand that number of obstacles are still to be overcome in moving from the identification of the sensing and sensed variables to the actual chip implementation. However, we expect such type of work to become more and more popular, given the growing number of high-throughput screens that are being made available at lower costs [43] and the consequent more precise approaches and tools that can be developed [44] to get more insight into the molecular complexity shown by these screens.…”