Chapter 11 - Biochips — fundamentals and applications

Abstract

Biochip, a bio-microarray device, has been extensively studied and developed to enable large-scale genomic, proteomic and functional genomic analyses. A biochip comprises mainly three types: DNA microarray, protein microarray, and microfluidic chip. With the integration of microarray and microfluidic systems, a micro total analysis system, which is often called a lab-on-a-chip (LOC) system, is produced. Advances of nanotechnology have continuously reduced the size of the biochip which in turn reduced the manufacturing cost and increased the high throughput capability. Due to the benefits of low expense, high throughput and miniaturization, this technology has great potential to be a crucial and powerful tool for clinical research, diagnostics, drug development, toxicology studies, and patient selection for clinical trials. The greatest advantage of the DNA arrays is its speed and high throughput and they are useful in various genomic applications, including single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis, gene expression studies, disease classification, function prediction, pathway identification, new drug development, clinical diagnostics, and toxicology studies. Protein chips, especially functional microarrays, are used to study basic biological properties like examining protein interactions with other ligands such as proteins, peptides, lipids or other molecules. The most common use of protein microarrays is in immunoassays, and they also played a significant role in the development of safer drugs through the comprehensive profiling of drugs or lead compounds for effects. LOCs are capable of conducting various types of chemical and cellular analysis, separations and reactions. LOC is one of the fastest growing areas of microfabrication and nanotechnology development, integrating many technologies to develop applications in a wide range of disciplines including genetic analysis, disease diagnosis, culturing and manipulating cells, drug discovery, and materials chemistry.