Integrated micro chemical systems and life science

Abstract

Our research group has developed the micro unit operation (MUO) and the continuous flow chemical processing (CFCP) methods, 2D and 3D multi-phase layered flow network, and the thermal lens microscope (TLM), for design, control, and ultra sensitive detection of non-fluorescent molecules at sub-single molecule (y-mole) levels. These methods have enabled integration of any type of chemical system on microchips almost freely. The performances of those integrated micro systems, such as processing time, throughput, detection limit, etc., were proved to be two to three orders superior to conventional systems. High throughput processing of the micro immunoassay systems for diagnosis and the micro bioassay systems for toxic screenings are the most typical examples for human and life science application. The micro bioassay system is introduced as an example of our integration technique for complicated systems. Furthermore, bio-MEMS using living cell and the Japanese national research projects on microchip chemical technologies are also introduced briefly.