Acrongenomics, Inc., a Geneva, Switzerland company and Molecular Vision, Ltd., a spin-off of Imperial College London, are presenting a new microfluidics technology platform that they hope to commercialize into a variety of lab-on-a-chip devices. The technology is based on proprietary microfluidics, organic semiconductor diodes and photodetectors:
Low cost, organic semiconductor polymers with tunable optical properties is the answer provided by Acrongenomics and Molecular Vision. Optical detection is provided by polymer Light Emitting Diodes (pLEDs) which are fully compatible with microfluidic chip technology. The combination of the two technologies is used for the development of a “readily portable” microfluidic and pLED platform (BioLED technology) that is initially applied to the development of POC microchips for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of medical conditions with high sensitivity and functionality at low cost…
Under electrical excitation the polymer emits light via radiative combination of injected electrons and holes and therefore may be used as a light source. The same structure can then be used in reverse as a photodetector by illuminating the polymer in order to generate a measurable electrical current.
The reagents of an assay will be mixed with the body fluid through the microfluidic network. The resulting mixture will be excited by the integrated, battery driven pLED and the resulting light-signal will be detected by the integrated photodetector which will generate an electrical current (electronic readout).
The press release…
To learn more about the technology…
(hat tip: MTB Europe)