BANSAI - An optofluidic approach for biomedical analysis

Lab-on-a-chip based portable blood analysis systems would allow point-of-care measurements, e.g. in an ambulance, or in remote areas with no fast access to medical care. Such a systemwould provide much faster information about the health of a patient. Here,we present a system that is based on absorption spectroscopy and uses an organic laser, which is tunable in the visible range. The feasibility of the system is shown with a table-top setup using laboratory equipment. Measurements of human albumin show linear behaviour in a range from 2.5 g/L to 60 g/L. In a consecutive setup the system is implemented on a microfluidic chip and is capable of measuring simultaneously transmitted and side scattered intensities, even with ambient light present. Air-suspended grating couplers on polymers are shown as the first element of a lab-on-a-chip implementation.