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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (37222)	9/11/2000 9:50:07 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Medical lab can be reduced to a chip Biotechnology is on the cusp of a revolution with entire processes able to be miniaturised to fit a microchip By NATALIE SOH STARK white benches cluttered with tubes, pipettes and chemical paraphernalia -- that is the picture that springs to mind when most people think of a medical-diagnosis laboratory. But the whole laboratory can actually be squeezed into a single chip, according to Dr John Harley, senior applications engineer with Microcosm Technologies, which provides solutions in this field. Welcome to the rapidly evolving field of micro-electrical mechanical systems (Mems), where entire processes that use electrical and mechanical elements are miniaturised to fit into a single silicon chip. Dr Harley was speaking at the National Symposium on Mems held at the National University of Singapore recently. He illustrated the revolution that can take place in the biotechnology industry with Mems. A simple blood test, he said, currently needs a large vial of blood to be extracted from a patient for diagnosis. The blood is then sent to a medical lab where it is piped into a test tube coated with antibodies. Bacteria, if present in the blood, will react to the antibodies, so an infection is readily identified. But with Mems, the entire process can be miniaturised. Instead of an entire vial of blood, only a minuscule amount is needed -- measured in picolitres, or millionths of a drop. This is collected by a tiny needle in the chip and dropped into a small well. The blood is then funnelled through a tiny maze of microchannels -- which can be coated with antibodies so any reactions are monitored within the chip itself. And to move the fluids within this tiny structure, a series of micro-electric circuitry is needed. Since liquid flows from high- to low-voltage areas, it can be directed to go to different parts of the chip by varying the electrical charge. Besides blood and DNA testing, Mems is also beginning to play a major part in optical-fibre and wireless worlds, said Dr Harley. The optic fibre that carries information for high-speed Internet access is also experiencing a revolution with Mems technology. Usually, when light rays are sent through the fibre cables, they are routed with electrical switches. But this causes transmission quality to drop. With optical Mems, however, electricity is not necessary. A series of tiny reflectors deflect the photonic signal -- so there is no loss in transmission. This also means more light could be stuffed down the same cable, and bandwidth could be increased. Mr Jean-Claude Marquet, chief executive officer of chip-maker STMicroelectronics in the Asia Pacific, also highlighted the growing importance of Mems technology. Speaking at TechPartnership 2000, an industry conference for the electronics and infocomm-technology professions, he said that Mems was now moving from research to commercialisation. ""We can today put millions of active components into a silicon chip of less than 1 sq cm while at the same time increasing speed of operation and reducing power consumption,'' he said. Dr Harley said: ""The advantage of Mems is driven mostly by commercial cost -- it allows you to do it better or cheaper, or both. ""It's growing rapidly, and there is enormous potential to be explored. ""Eventually, the DNA or blood tests may be small and cheap enough to be done in a doctor's office, instead of having to send samples off to a distant lab, which will cost a lot more.''