Lab-on-a-chip for Biological Fluids Analysis by Spetrophotometry

Introduction The healthcare sector is nowadays one of the most dynamic sectors where the novelty is a strategic and operational imperative. The possibility of increasing the quantity and quality of clinical analysis, performed with instantaneous results and outside the clinical laboratories, contributes to a better quality in the healthcare services and to a better efficiency in the clinical and administrative processes [1]. This possibility can be achieved with the presented lab-on-a-chip for spectrophotometric analysis of biological fluids. It allows the selective measurement of the concentration of several biomolecules in biological fluids, with instantaneous results, at any location, with small quantities of reagents and samples and with lowcost. That measurement is based on colorimetric detection by the optical absorption in a part of the visible spectrum defined by the reaction of the specific biomolecule with a specific reagent. The device comprises a highly efficient and selective optical filtering and colorimetric detection system. This system allows the measurement with a regular white light illumination, thus avoiding the use of complex and expensive analysis systems like the ones that comprise spectrophotometers, for example. This feature highly facilitates portability and ensures analysis within consultation time, at a patient house (allowing a first trial) and in clinical laboratories or hospitals. Despite its small dimensions, low energy consumption and the use of small quantities of reagents and samples, it has the same reliability and precision of the biological fluids analysis systems by spectrophotometry available, nowadays, in clinical laboratory analyses.