New lab-on-chip device to cut health test costs

Scientists have developed a breakthrough lab-on-chip device that can substantially reduce the cost of sophisticated lab tests for medical disorders and diseases such as HIV, Lyme disease and syphilis.
The new device uses miniaturised channels and valves to replace "benchtop" assays - tests that require large samples of blood or other fluids and expensive chemicals that lab technicians manually mix in trays of tubes or plastic plates with cup-like depressions.
"The main advantage is cost - these assays are done in labs and clinics everywhere," said Mehdi Ghodbane, who earned his doctorate in biomedical engineering at Rutgers University.
The lab-on-chip device, which employs microfluidics technology, along with making tests more affordable for patients and researchers, opens doors for new research because of its capability to perform complex analyses using 90 per cent less sample fluid than needed in conventional tests.

"A great deal of research has been hindered because in many cases one is not able to extract enough fluid," said Ghodbane, who now works in biopharmaceutical research and development at GlaxoSmithKline.
The breakthrough also requires one-tenth of the chemicals used in a conventional multiplex immunoassay, which can cost as much as USD 1500.

Additionally, the device automates much of the skilled labour involved in performing tests.
"The results are as sensitive and accurate as the standard bench-top assay," said Martin Yarmush, professor of biomedical engineering at Rutgers University.
Until now, animal research on central nervous system disorders, such as spinal cord injury and Parkinson's disease, has been limited because researchers could not extract sufficient cerebrospinal fluid to perform conventional assays.

"With our technology, researchers will be able to perform large-scale controlled studies with comparable accuracy to conventional assays," Yarmush said.
The discovery could also lead to more comprehensive research on autoimmune joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis through animal studies.
As with spinal fluid, the amount of joint fluid, or synovial fluid, researchers are able to collect from lab animals is minuscule.
The researchers combined several capabilities for the first time in the device they have dubbed "ELISA-on-a-chip" (for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay).
A single device analyses 32 samples at once and can measure widely varying concentrations of as many as six proteins in a sample.

The research was published in the journal Lab on a Chip.