| The research activities of the AML are directed towards the use and development of microsystems and the nanotechnologies based upon them. Such microsystems, and in particular those based on microfluidic devices, allow new ways of making electrical, chemical and biological measurements, and will enable the effective implementation of nanotechnologies.
In the case of microfluidics, just as an integrated circuit consists of a microwire network that allows the manipulation of electrons by applying electric fields, microfluidic devices consist of a micropipe network that allows the electrical manipulation of reagents, biological cells and even single molecules. To date, these capabilities are shown most effectively in microsystem implementations of molecular biology applications, notably for medical diagnostics.
We have excellent fabrication, design and testing facilities (e.g. UA Nanofab) for developing our systems and devices. Although this research is exciting in itself, often the most satisfying moments arise when we apply what we have developed to help solve an important human problem. Much of this interdisciplinary activity is in a shared research laboratory that is used to foster collaborative work between engineers, scientists and clinical personnel as we develop and apply our medical diagnostic chips, instruments and protocols. This is a convergence of biomedical engineering, nanotoechnologies, engineering physics, analytical chemistry, molecular biology, biochemistry and, of course, electrical engineering.
Some Recent Developments: Images - Videos - AML Gallery
Overview - Life Sciences and Nanobiotechnology
Molecular biology may provide the best example of the implementation of nanotechnologies on microsystems - the molecular biology procedures are in many cases readily implemented on microchips and involve large scale manipulations at the molecular level. Such implementations may soon revolutionize health care while enabling powerful tools for research into human disease.
Much of modern research in the life sciences uses extremely expensive reagents, is labour intensive and requires highly trained personnel. This makes the research slow and expensive to the extent that the research is often not applicable to health care. We believe that microsystems could aid the situation by working with very small amounts of reagents, integrating various steps onto a single chip, and by working rapidly. As computers became based on electronic microchips they became more highly integrated, faster and more available to the general public - we hope to do the same with microfluidic microchips. (We do not expect this to lead to the unemployment of the highly trained personnel - just as computer personnel seem to be becoming ever more in demand) This research ranges from developing microfabrication methods to better implement molecular biology protocols on a chip, to developing inexpensive microchip-based systems. Microfabrication technologies have demonstrated their importance in connection with microelectronics yet will become even more important in the future by enabling new applications, sometimes through lowering costs and sometimes by offering entirely new capabilities.
For more information please see our publication summary.
Overview - Instrumentation and Medical Diagnostic Systems
We have developed a range of inexpensive, yet highly functional, microchip-based medical diagnostic systems. It is often overlooked in the development of lab on a chip technologies that the infrastructure needed to operate the chip is often so expensive or complex that it provides a significant barrier to the development of lab on chip applications. Our systems are now several orders of magnitude less expensive than conventional systems and yet are far more functional, allowing a diagnosis to be produced automatically from a drop of sample. These "Tricorders" now consist of about $1000 worth of components in a shoe-box sized package. Our next designs will be mobile-telephone sized and we aim for a total system cost of $100 in a system that can perform sample preparation, genetic amplification and genetic analysis. Designing and building these systems is an interesting convergence of photonics, microelectronics and embedded system design.
For more information please see our publication summary.
Overview - Microsystems Technologies
Although microsystems offer new and fascinating capabilities for implementing new technologies, what makes them most exciting is that they also provide a means of bringing new technologies to the public. Just as microelectronics technologies enabled the consumer electronics revolution, microsystems technologies are expected to enable a revolution in microfluidic and nanotechnologies. Many of these new technologies will allow entirely new capabilities, but the most important may well be technologies that allow more inexpensive implementations or better integrations. The AML is exploring several technologies to these ends.
As detailed in our recent publications and in our gallery, we have developed a range of microdevices such as microvalves, micropumps, microsensors and microheaters. When integrated onto a microfluidic chip these enable complete on-chip medical diagnostics. By working with such minute devices (e.g. with nanolitre quantities), we are able to operate at high speeds (e.g. seconds for electrophoretic analysis rather than the hours usually needed for conventional systems) and our reagent costs go from being a major cost barrier (tens or hundreds of dollars) to being negligible (pennies).
For more information please see our publication summary.
Overview - Medical Diagnostic Applications
There are a wide range of applications that can be addressed with our present lab on chip technologies. Some recent examples include:
The detection of the T4:14 translocation for application to cancer treatment. (see van Dijken/2007).
The development of a test to help prevent adverse drug reactions (one of the leading causes of death in hospitals) by detecting single nuclear polymorphisms (SNPs) that predispose to drug intolerance. (see Chowdhury/2007)
Initial tests of a system to detect DNA viruses (BKV) in human bodily fluids in collaboration with public health authorities - with detection at the near-single copy level. (see Kaigala/2007)
Detection of SNPs that flag genetic diseases (e.g. Footz/2004).
Detection of laser scatter patterns from the mitochondria in single cells to assess disease status (see Su/2007, Pilarski/2008).
Lab on chip implementation of Fluorescence In-Situ Hybridization (FISH) - a standard cytogenetic technique (see Sieben/2007).
A radically new way of extracting plasmid and other supercoiled DNA from nuclear DNA (a microchip "miniprep") (in press, Electrophoresis/2008).
For more information please see our publication summary.
Overview - Quantum Devices, Harmonic Radar and Other
It is not uncommon for us to find that the same technology has a surprising range of applications, some well outside healthcare.
In collaboration with Dr. J. Roland at the Department of Biological Sciences , Brian Moore and Micralyne we developed harmonic radar tags for insect and tracking. These transmitters are extremely light and can be carried by even by small insects, allowing a handheld transceiver to track their movement. Work using our tags has been reported in Nature (Roland/1996), National Geographic(January, 2000), Discover (February, 1997) and Equinox(January, 1998) and is used not only for behavioural studies, but also for environmental monitoring applications.
We have also investigated the use of a more robust tag design (a folded dipole) for use with birds. This has been the basis of work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for environmental monitoring. In future, such tages may be useful for prevening bird-strike - a significant cause of aircraft mishaps.
Micro and nanofabrication methods allow ready access to the quantum world. Facilities at the UA are well suited for the development of quantum devices for applications in harmonic radar, medical imaging and telecommunications.
In past work at CTF Systems, quantum devices were built for applications ranging from magnetoencephalography through environmental monitoring to surveying (e.g. Fife/1995). This work involved superconducting quantum interference devices made by superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) or step-edge junction technologies. Similar (SIS) work has been performed in the ECE Department in collaboration with local industry.
We have tested a microchip-based system for protein analysis (Cheong/2004) which we hope to develop into a long-lifetime ion thruster for uses such as maneuvering satellites in space.
In recent work we have collaborated in building microfabricated structures for transmutation - developing radioisotopes for use in imaging applications (see Johnson/2007).
For more information please see our publication summary.
|
