Platform Technologies for Molecular Diagnostics Near the Patient’s Bedside

Abstract

It is believed Lab-on-Chip systems will become a mainstream technology within the next centuries. Especially because of new findings in molecular medicine and global trends such as the changing global population in third world countries and an ageing population in industrial countries, the need for fast and reliable diagnostics is rising tremendously. Hence, diagnostics have to become more frequently and more easily available. In this regard, technologies have to be found that enable the cost-effective production and hence an affordable price. In a joint-project between seven Fraunhofer institutes a Lab-on-Chip system was developed which consists of a credit-card-sized cartridge and a base station. The cartridges contain besides the reagents necessary for a specific assay also functionalities such as pumping or heating enabling a self-contained system without any fluidic interfaces, which tend to be error-prone. Because of the modularity of the system it is possible to integrate an optical sensor as well an electrochemical sensor into the cartridge. Hence, the system can be customized to serve the needs of the particular assays. This chapter will describe the system including generic design rules for such Lab-on-Chip systems, the development of these rules into a modular Lab-on-Chip system, the integration of biomedical assays, and the production possibility of this system.

Evanescent wave fluorescence biosensors: Advances of the last decade

“…Excellent specificity was demonstrated. The Fraunhofer ivD platform (Fraunhofer IZI-BB, Potsdam, Germany) appears to have similar capabilities, with additional modules for DNA amplification/hybridization and electrochemical readout (Schumacher et al 2013; Schumacher et al 2012), but to our knowledge, data from fully integrated analyses of clinical samples have not yet been published.…”

The Molecular Industrial Revolution: Automated Synthesis of Small Molecules

“…[6] This is because this class of chemical matter can also perform many frontier functions that have been minimally utilized to date. These include modulating protein-protein interactions, [7] allosterically modifying protein function, [8] acting as prostheses on the molecular scale, [9] serving as next-generation biological probes, [10] enabling miniaturized diagnostics, [11] harvesting sunlight. [12] transducing energy, [13] emitting light, [14] initiating self-healing, [15] acting as molecular magnets, [16] acting as redox flow batteries, [17] enabling next generation computing, [18] and superconducting.…”

Biosensing with Paper-Based Miniaturized Printed Electrodes–A Modern Trend

“…This is driven not only by new discoveries in biomedicine and therapeutics (e.g., novel biomarkers, theranostics, personalized medicine), but also due to global trends such as the world demographic increase or the population ageing in developed regions [5,6]. Point-of-care diagnostics is also fundamental for the low- and middle-income countries due to the lack of infrastructural and financial resources, shortages in trained staff, the burden of endemic infectious diseases, and the increase in spurious and counterfeit drugs [1].…”

“…Therefore, substantial efforts have been made to produce analytical solutions of reduced costs, making the early diagnosis and detection of hazardous substances possible, even in the most resource-limited settings [5,7]. Because the lack of access to instrumentation maintenance and/or repair is also a constraint in developing regions, POCTs are preferentially designed to display readouts in small sensing devices or, ideally, in equipment-free systems.…”