The Apple A9 chip used in the latest iPhones contains more than three billion transistors. That’s pretty impressive on its own – but when you look at its price of around 20 euro, it becomes even more remarkable. For decades now the chip industry has succeeded in offering more and more functionality at increasingly low prices. It is our aim to bring the enormous power of silicon-based chip technology to the life sciences, too.
Why would we want to do that? First and foremost to make medical instruments smaller and less expensive. In doing so, we can bring them within the reach of consumers. A good example of this is our project in which we integrate an entire medical laboratory on to a chip measuring just a few cm². The chip will be capable of analyzing the molecules or cells contained in body fluids (DNA, proteins, viruses, blood cells, etc.) totally autonomously. This will make it possible to carry out sophisticated tests quickly in places where it was previously impossible: in the hospital ward, at a doctor’s practice and even in the patient’s home. As an example, DNA tests could become mainstream as a result.
A second reason for bringing chip technology to the world of the life sciences is to increase the speed or throughput of medical instruments. Imagine if you were able to read (or sequence) DNA using a chip. Then it would become possible to integrate a large number of these sequencing components onto a small area, enabling high throughput DNA sequencers. Companies that specialize in DNA sequencing are truly convinced by the power of silicon technology. This is demonstrated by the partnerships that imec currently has with these companies (such as with Pacific Biosciences).
Chip technology is also of interest for cytometric devices (counting and examining cells): either because the devices themselves can be made smaller and more compact (and hence become mainstream), or because their throughput is enhanced. Counting and examining cells may be of value, for instance, in following up leukemia treatment: a disposable chip can be used to quickly count the number of blood cells so that the doctor can tell the patient on the spot whether the treatment is working. Another application is cell therapy in which human cells are used as medicine. One risk with this treatment is that wrongly programmed cells might be injected inadvertently which could lead to tumor formation. Cytometric devices are needed to be able to check all of the cells to be injected before they are administered to the patient. Thanks to chip technology, this can be done faster, better – and also cost less. Imec’s lens-free microscope technology can also be extremely useful in this area, too!
Up until now, we have worked mainly with ‘older’ chip technologies for the life science applications mentioned above. More specifically with 0.18 and 0.13 micrometer technology on 200mm silicon wafers. In 2016, we aim to go a step further and test scaled chip technologies. At the present time, no one knows what these more advanced chip technologies might mean for medical instruments. After all, if the ‘old’ technologies already mean such a revolution for equipment manufacturers, doctors and patients, who knows what the newer technologies will bring. Watch this space!
