Enhancement of sensitivity of detecting growth hormones through nano integration of lab on chips

Abstract

The bovine growth hormone is a common growth promoter used in dairy farming to enhance the milk production. Its use is forbidden in Canada, the European Union and many other countries because the hormone could be harmful to the health of animals and humans. For this reason, it is important to develop fast and low-cost methods of detection of the bovine growth hormone at very low concentrations. Conventional methods as well as the recent developments of lab-on-a-chip technologies are reviewed with an emphasis of the work in our laboratory.