Posts tagged: Diagnostics

The past pandemic has shown that smart lab on a chip solutions are stronger in need than ever, for infectious disease control, but also for routine diagnostics that require quick responses or automation of demanding sample preparation workflows. Start-ups and established companies often face the challenge to transform their product idea into initial prototypes and industrial series production with limited resources in terms of time, capacities and decentralized development processes.

Nowadays, there is a great need for highly efficient and accurate diagnostic systems. In order to save both time and money, you can transform passive diagnostic test into active microfluidic systems. These test are not only faster than their passive counterparts, but also more accurate and comprehensive.

Cancer diagnostics, analysis, sensors and, of course, cartridges-all these are terms that gather around research at Fraunhofer IMM. As one of the pioneers in the use of microfluidics and the associated system technology for handling liquid volumes in the micro- to picoliter range, the so-called lab-on-a-chip technology, the Mainz-based institute has been developing microfluidic systems as well as new analysis methods for analytics and life science applications for more than 20 years.

The pandemic is increasingly becoming a race: a neck-and-neck race between research, development and production of drugs and vaccines on the one hand and mutations on the other. Microfluidics can make all the difference in this race, because microfluidic components accelerate the speed of development and Lab-on-a-chip and chemical microreactors make mobile rapid tests possible and accelerate vaccine development.

The Corona crisis has turned the world upside down and shown us once again how dependent we are on key technologies such as microtechnology and nanotechnology. These technologies support the fight against Corona, for example, in the field of rapid diagnostics, in the low-cost production of miniaturized components for urgently needed medical devices and in the development of vaccines.

Individual patient care is becoming increasingly important. On the one hand, this saves valuable resources, for example in terms of medication and diagnostic tools, and on the other hand helps to provide targeted medical treatment for patients' ailments.

When WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus admonished nations to “test, test, test”, back in March of this year, testing was already recognized as a key strategy in the fight against COVID-19. In response to this, the diagnostics industry has been racing to develop new high-speed test platforms that can quickly and accurately carry out the wide-scale testing needed.

The corona pandemic with the new virus COVID-19 is turning our lives upside down and we are all confronted with a new and completely unexpected situation. At the moment we are increasingly asked by our customers: can you help with corona diagnostics with your micropump? That would be possible. Modern biotechnology needs microstructure technology.

Optical components play a particularly important role in the field of diagnostic imaging technologies, like X-ray, ultrasound examinations, computer tomography or endoscopy but also in the quality assurance of manufacturing processes. High-quality optics are essential, not least in the field of laser technology. Optical components, systems and assemblies form a focal point in the field of medical technology components, which will be on display at COMPAMED.

Sensor technology is one of the key technologies when it comes to making conventional medical devices or production processes in the manufacture of medical products smarter and more controllable. Sensors make it possible to digitize diagnostic, control or therapy devices and thus also contribute to making these applications "wearable".