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Microsystems

The Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology (ISIT), Siemens and Infineon announced proposed development of electronic biochip technology along with their nomination for the German Federal President's Deutscher Zukunftspreis technology and innovation award for work already carried out.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology (ISIT), Siemens and Infineon announced proposed development of electronic biochip technology along with their nomination for the German Federal President's Deutscher Zukunftspreis technology and innovation award for work already carried out.

The co-operation was initiated by the SIBANAT project sponsored by the German federal ministry of education and research (BMBF). The three partners have produced an electronic DNA biochip from this work that can be used to detect various carcinogenic viruses.

Siemens wants to implement an entire "laboratory on a chip" in a smart card similar to conventional bankcards. The aim is to manufacture a "quicklab system" at low cost as a general-purpose, mass-market analytical product based on existing production technologies for smart cards. The development is intended for use in doctor surgeries, at the point of care and in clinical laboratories. The smart card would be inserted into a laptop-sized terminal to carry out a fully automatic analysis and readout the results.

Infineon is working on incorporating the electronic DNA biochips in desktop devices for diagnostics applications. This will enable complex DNA analyses to be carried out in medical practices, hospitals and other medical institutions faster and more cost-effectively than in the past.

Working together with its spin-off company eBiochip Systems, Fraunhofer ISIT is expanding the platform for biochemical measurement with low-density electrical biochips and low-cost portable devices for specialised measurements. Typical applications will include monitoring of foodstuffs for harmful substances or identification of pathogens in the human environment. The Deutscher Zukunftspreis award will be made November 11, 2004. The first such award was made in 1997.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Applied MEMS, a US microsystems company, will jointly develop and manufacture next-generation, portable bio-chemical analysers.

These products will be commercialised by aDEPtas, a spin-out from MD Anderson specialising in medical analysers based on dielectrophoresis platform technology. Dielectrophoresis uses different dielectric responses in an electric field to separate particles.

The "brain" of the analyser, smaller than a postage stamp, is a micro-fluidic processor where tiny droplets of samples and reagents are combined. Applied MEMS is to develop and manufacture these MEMS-based micro-fluidic processor chips.

The chips will be incorporated into portable, programmable analysers roughly the size of a conventional hand-held PDA device for point-of-use and point-of-care application. The wide range of applications includes pathogen detection for biological/chemical warfare, pharmaceutical drug discovery, industrial process control, quality control for agriculture, environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics.

The work is currently funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Applied MEMS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Input/Output.

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