Lab-on-a-Chip! What is it? and links to a journal full of the latest research papers.

Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) scales down many lab functions and processes and puts them into a miniature chip! Below you will find an excelent LOC Journal with free access to many research papers.


LINK TO LAB-ON-A-CHIP JOURNAL:
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/lc/index.asp

Example: Plucking proteins from single cells
Link to free access of paper: http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/DisplayHTMLArticleforfree.cfm?JournalCode=LC&Year=2009&ManuscriptID=b816857a&Iss=Advance_Article

BOOK: Herold and Rasooly 2009. Lab-on-a-Chip Technology.
Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices integrate and scale down laboratory functions and processes to a miniaturized chip format. Many LOC devices are used in a wide array of biomedical and other analytical applications including rapid pathogen detection, clinical diagnosis, forensic science, electrophoresis, flow cytometry, blood chemistry analysis, protein and DNA analysis. LOC devices can be fabricated from many types of material including various polymers, glass, or silicon, or combinations of these materials. A broad variety of fabrication technologies are used for LOC device fabrication. LOC systems have several common features including microfluidics and sensing capabilities. Microfluidics deals with fluid flow in tiny channels using flow control devices (e.g. channels, pumps, mixers and valves). Sensing capabilities, usually optical or electrochemical sensors, can also be integrated into the chip (Herold and Rasooly 2009. Lab-on-a-Chip Technology. Caister Academic Press ISBN: 978-1-904455-47-9 - LINK TO BOOK:Lab-on-a-Chip Technology: Fabrication and Microfluidics Lab-on-a-Chip Technology: Biomolecular Separation and Analysis


WIKI: A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a device that integrates one or several laboratory functions on a single chip of only millimeters to a few square centimeters in size. LOCs deal with the handling of extremely small fluid volumes down to less than pico liters. Lab-on-a-chip devices are a subset of MEMS devices and often indicated by "Micro Total Analysis Systems" (µTAS) as well. Microfluidics is a broader term that describes also mechanical flow control devices like pumps and valves or sensors like flowmeters and viscometers. However, strictly regarded "Lab-on-a-Chip" indicates generally the scaling of single or multiple lab processes down to chip-format, whereas "µTAS" is dedicated to the integration of the total sequence of lab processes to perform chemical analysis. The term "Lab-on-a-Chip" was introduced later on when it turned out that µTAS technologies were more widely applicable than only for analysis purposes.