Phone calls and text messages reach you wherever you are because your phone has a unique identifying
number that sets you apart from everybody else on the network.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are using a similar principle to track cells
being sorted on microfluidic chips.
Microfluidic chips use physical or biological properties to separate cancer cells, bacteria
or viruses from other cells and particles in a fluid.
Using a simple circuit pattern, the new identification technique assigns a unique seven-bit digital
number to each cell passing through the channels on the chip.
The hybrid system also captures information about the sizes of the cells, and how fast
they are moving.
That identification and information could allow automated counting and digital analysis
of the cells being sorted.
This research is providing the electronic intelligence that could one day allow inexpensive
labs on a chip to conduct sophisticated medical testing outside the confines of hospitals
and clinics.
This is John Toon for Georgia Tech Research News.