Lab-on-a-chip devices need testing standard; NIST

Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices are being touted as harbingers of the next biomedical revolution. Small, simple devices that closely model human tissues, chemically and structurally, would greatly reduce medical research cost and accuracy. As with many new technologies, NIST researcher Samuel Stavis contends that furhter LOC development is going to require testing standards -- there must be a standardized way to measure various metrics from LOC devices. Stavis uses the example of autofluorescence -- a material property that, if not controlled for, could significantly skew results. "There may be one measure of autofluorescence from the block of plastic that is the base material for a chip, another once the block has been fashioned into the substrate in which the functional components are embedded, and yet another as the final device is completed," Stavis says. "To manufacture lab on a chip devices with reliably low autofluorescence, accurate measurements may be needed at each stage."