Conventional and Modern Approaches to Constructing Biochip Systems

In contrast to traditional hybridization assays, which utilize flexible membranes such a nitrocellulose and nylon, radioactivity, and autoradiography, microarray or biochip, assays utilize solid surfaces such as glass with fluorescent labeling and detection. Compared to the macroscopic format of filter-based assays, the miniaturized biochip format represents a fundamental revolution in biological analysis. One advantage of the chip formats is that the solid surface is non-porous and thus enables the deposition of small amounts of biochemical material in a precisely defined location.

Porous substrates such as nylon and nitrocellulose allow diffusion of applied materials and are not amenable to microarray preparation. A non-porous substrate also prevents the absorption of reagents and sample into the substrate matrix, allowing the rapid removal of organic and fluorescent compounds during biochip fabrication and use. A non-porous surface permits the use of small sample volumes enabling high sample concentrations and rapid hybridization kinetics, which increases the quality of the array elements. The inherent flatness of the microarray format permits true parallelism, which is lacking in all filter-based assays. Parallel analysis provides a significant increase in the accuracy of the assay data.

Genetic screening and analysis are making the transition from being mainly research tools to being more practical instruments that allow physicians to diagnose genetic diseases. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, contains the complex chemical instructions that form the building blocks of every living cell. Whether from plants, animals, fungi, or microorganisms, all cells contain one or more long DNA strands, or chromosomes; a species’ entire collection of chromosomes is its genome. The number of chromosomes depends on the species. The human species, for instance, has 23 sets of chromosomes in its genome; many disease-carrying microorganisms only have one.

It is common to think of an organism’s DNA as a blueprint for how its body is put together. Like a blueprint, each chromosome is broken into detailed sections, commonly referred to as genes, each of which contains plans for a particular part of the entire structure. One set of genes might determine if an animal has a curly tail, another might determine its hair color, and yet another group of genes might determine an organism’s susceptibility to color blindness.

Biochip and biosensor technology development today secures the new advanced level of medicine and pharmacology of tomorrow. Introduction of new precise and early diagnostic techniques, turning upside down the current understanding of untreatable diseases, complex application of the novel methods of diagnoses and localization, drug delivery techniques and treatment control will be at a large extent based on success in development, fabrication and implementation of novel materials and technologies towards creating state-of-the-art biochips and biosensors.

The biochip is a self-contained device, which allows simultaneous detection of various types of biotargets using different bioreceptors (e.g., antibodies, nucleic acids, enzymes, cellular probes) on a single system. The biochip sensor array device, which is based on an integrated circuit (IC), is designed using complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) technology and includes photosensors, amplifiers, discriminators and logic circuitry on board. The highly integrated biochip is produced using the capability of fabricating multiple optical sensing elements and microelectronics for up to 100 sensing channels on a single IC. The capability of large-scale production using low-cost IC technology is an important advantage. The assembly process of various components is made simple by cost-effective integration of multiple elements on a single chip.

Although all-inclusive integrated biochip systems will continue to gain in popularity, reagents and consumables will experience the fastest growth in accordance with the “razor and blade” business model, which entails ongoing consumption of disposable items subsequent to initial instrumentation installation.

Read more about Biomanufacturing Strategies – Market Drivers And Opportunities In Contract Relationship Management