George Whitesides: Paper Lab-on-Chip

There's been some buzz lately about a TED Talk that George Whitesides, a Harvard chemistry professor, gave about a novel idea for a cheap, mass-producible diagnostic lab-on-chip.

I've written a numerous times about lab-on-chip devices, most of which involve various microchannels and reservoirs etched into a credit-card size piece of plastic. Whitesides, however, accomplishes the same goal using something similar to your everyday coffee filter.

You'll need to watch the TED Talk so Dr. Whitesides can explain the concept, but basically, you place a specific reagent on one end of the channel (the "solute"), and at the other end, apply the sample to be tested (saliva, urine, blood, etc.). The sample (the "solvent") moves up the channel through capillary action and when it hits the solute, will react with it and turn a certain color that can indicate a positive/negative result, or indicate the severity of a disease. If a doctor is unable to make a diagnosis on site, a picture can be taken and emailed to a physician.

I absolutely love this concept. Though Whitesides is a chemist by profession, such a unique idea is really what engineering is all about. He can reduce the solution to something that is simple, fast, and affordable.

In addition to his TED Talk, you might want to check out coverage from CNN and Popular Science. Also be sure to check out a post I wrote in November about a UC Irvine professor's novel solution for producing lab-on-chip devices.