Lab-on-a-Chip

The concept of lab-on -a- chip ( or chip laboratory or english lab-on -a-chip device, lab-on- a - chip, pocket lab), refers to a microfluidic system, which the functionality of a macroscopic laboratories on a just plastic card-sized plastic substrate accommodating. With this technology, the smallest amounts (a few picoliters to milliliters) analyze a liquid completely and automatically on a single chip. The transport of samples between the various reaction and analysis chambers takes place using capillary forces.

On the pocket laboratory extensive biological, chemical and physical processes take place. Silicon or borosilicate glass are often used for pocket labs. Of importance is the space economy of pocket laboratories, as can run complex processes in a small space. Due to the size of the laboratory, it is also very easy to transport, making it interesting for, among other primary medical care outside of doctors' offices and hospitals. One of the few examples where already lab-on- a - chip applications are successfully realized in everyday life, the field of automated ion channel analysis (see automated patch clamp).