“Genetic Testing Anywhere: Micro-sizes Hand-held 'Lab-on-a-chip' Devices Under Development” -ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080919183815.htm
Last month, Mr. Landers, a professor of chemistry and mechanical engineering and associate professor of pathology at the University of Virginia published his research on a new lab on a chip technology. He is trying to create a hand-held device that can allow physicians, crime scene investigators, pharmacists, even the general public, to quickly and inexpensively conduct DNA tests from almost anywhere, without need for a complex and expensive central laboratory. "We are simplifying and miniaturizing the analytical processes so we can do this work in the field, away from traditional laboratories, with very fast analysis times, and at a greatly reduced cost," he said. The hand-held device would hold many analytical tools found in a lab, but it would be portable. For example, the unit would be able to test a pin-prick-size droplet of blood, and within an hour provide a DNA analysis. This would be useful to crime scene investigators who could collect and analyze even a tiny sample of blood or semen on the scene, enter the finding into a genetic database, and possibly identify the perpetrator very shortly after a crime has occurred.
4 comments:
This article seems very interesting, and I like that you have a topic related to the DNA databases that we’ve read about. I also liked that you described the way in which the device would work, such as the tiny amount of blood that could be used, and the short amount of time the DNA would be analyzed. This was a good summary of the article, but something you might have done to improve it could have been to describe the other uses of the device, such as how it would be useful to the general public. I think it’s very interesting that they are trying to create this portable device to solve crimes faster.
I found the article to be quite fascinating! You summarized it very well. Specifically, I thought it was particularly interesting that they wanted to create this device and make it portable, which would make the device very useful when needed immediately at a crime scene investigation. It might have been a nice addition if the summary included how the device would actually function being that it would be portable and how they would go about actually making it. All in all, it was summarized with accuracy and zeal. Great job!
I thought you did a really good job with this article it was so interesting to hear that something like this could be on the market soon and I think you did a good job of summarizing the article and the functions of the portable DNA processor. It would have been nice to include exactly when it will be available and how it will exactly function so quickly and what might have changed to make it function so quickly. Overall I found it a really interesting summary to read and thought you did a great job!
The article was pretty interesting, and i thought you summarized the article sufficiently. You included the main ideas of the article and the important information. I think you should have added a step by step process on how the device functions so the readers get a better sense of how it works. But, overall you did a good job with it.
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