Polymers Promising for Lab-on-a-Chip

Liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) are showing promise for use in lab-on-a-chip technology, whereby a tiny system could be used for analyzing blood samples and biopsies much faster, cheaper, and more comprehensively than current methods.

LCPs are polymers made from liquid crystalline molecules, which are well known for their use in display applications. Researchers at the University of Alberta (Canada), collaborating with colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology and Philips Research Laboratories (both in The Netherlands), have shown that LCPs, when formed into a thin film on a glass backing, can be fabricated and patterned on a microscale.

The most commonly cited goal among micro- and nanoscale researchers is to create a lab-on-a-chip for analyzing blood samples and biopsies. In the past, researchers have used silicon, but LCPs are less brittle and more pliable than silicon, and can be tailored to respond to specific external stimuli, such as temperature changes. Also, LCPs are less expensive than silicon and potentially easier to process.

The researchers have conducted a number of preliminary LCP experiments on a microscale in order to better understand and describe the material's mechanical properties. They believe the material holds promise as a microscale building block. Now it is up to other engineers and scientists to take this knowledge and create useful microscale devices.

"Based on our research of liquid crystalline polymers, we anticipate the emergence of exciting new techniques in microfabrication that can be used to cheaply and efficiently pattern response materials,” said first author Anastasia Elias, a Ph.D. student in Dr. Michael Brett's group at the University of Alberta department of electrical and computer engineering. "Ultimately, we believe liquid crystalline polymers will be fully integrated in microelectromechanical systems, such as the emerging lab-on-a-chip applications.”



Related Links:
U. of Alberta