Nanoscale discovery brings 'lab on a chip' devices closer to reality

London, May 19 (ANI): Making a breakthrough in "lab on a chip" technology, a University of Michigan biomedical engineering professor has discovered a new instance of such a nanoscale phenomenon that could lead to faster, less expensive portable diagnostic devices.




Hunt and colleagues could get an electric current to pass non-destructively through a sliver of glass, which isn't usually a conductor.

"This is a new, truly nanoscale physical phenomenon. At larger scales, it doesn't work. You get extreme heating and damage," Nature quoted Hunt as saying.






It's often difficult for engineers to insert these wires into the tiny machines, said Hunt.




This discovery is the result of an accident.

Hunt said that two channels in an experimental nanofluidic device didn't line up properly, but the researchers found that electricity did pass through the device.

"We were surprised by this, as it runs counter to accepted thinking about the behavior of nonconductive materials. Upon further study we were able to understand why this could happen, but only at the nanometer scale," said Hunt.


The study has been published online in Nature Nanotechnology. (ANI)

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