Abstract :
Rapidly evolving frontiers in genomics, proteomics and medical diagnostics generate an ever increasing demand for high throughput analytical information. The ability to extract the required information from a chemical or biological system almost always involves performing a number of distinct analytical operations. Ideal microfluidic systems will incorporate all such relevant steps including sample handling, sample pre-treatment, reaction, product separation, analyte detection, and product isolation. While downsizing, system integration and parallelisation afford many performance gains including speed, analytical efficiency and throughput, new problems are also encountered. A significant challenge arising directly from the existence of small volumes within microfluidic systems is the ability to efficiently detect analyte molecules. The author´s presentation discusses this important challenge and present examples of high-sensitivity, universal and integrated detection schemes for chip-based systems.
