ABSTRACT
Lab-on-a-chip ( LOC) i s a m iniaturized, p ortable de vice t hat integrates di erent laboratory functions such as real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), biochemical assays, immunoassay, dielectrophoresis, a nd bioseparations on a si ngle device. ese novel LOC systems have various applications in biotechnology, medicine, clinical diagnostics, chemical engineering, and pharmaceutics. LOC devices have several advantages in terms of lowvolume consumption, thereby indicating less wastage of reagents/ chemical s olutions a nd re quiring le ss s ample b odily uid for clinical diagnostics. Moreover, nowadays, there is also an ongoing need for active continuous time monitoring systems capable of rapid analysis with substantial accuracy for detecting biomolecules. L OC de vices h ave t he a bility to c arry o ut f ast a nalysis and have a very short response time in the range of a few seconds to m inutes. I n add ition, c ompactness o f t he s ystem a nd sm all volumes parallelization a llows for better process control of the complete reaction sequence, that is, mixing, heating, and separation i n t he m icro uidic c hambers. e se high-throughput LOC systems, due to their miniaturized size, have lower fabrication and disposal costs.
