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A microfluidic bioreactor consists
of two chambers separated by a nanoporous silicon membrane.

The ability to shrink laboratory-scale processes to automated chip-sized systems would revolutionize biotechnology and medicine. For example, inexpensive and highly portable devices that process blood samples to detect biological agents such as anthrax are needed by the U.S. military and for homeland security efforts. One of the challenges of lab-on-a-chip technology is the need for miniaturized pumps to move solutions through micro-channels. Electroosmotic pumps (EOPs), devices in which fluids appear to magically move through porous media in the presence of an electric field, are ideal because they can be readily miniaturized. EOPs, however, require bulky, external power sources, which defeats the concept of portability. But a super-thin silicon membrane developed at the University of Rochester could now make it possible to drastically shrink the power source, paving the way for diagnostic devices the size of a credit card.

Up until now, electroosmotic pumps have had to operate at a very high voltage - about 10 kilovolts, said James McGrath, associate professor of biomedical engineering. Our device works in the range of one-quarter of a volt, which means it can be integrated into devices and powered with small batteries.

McGrath's research paper is being published this week by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The University of Rochester women's team beat out the others, completing the 3.5-mile course of Corporate Challenge Championship in a combined 1 hour, 24 minutes and 41 seconds. UR's Jessica Snyder (running the course in 20 minutes, 19 seconds) led Sarah Loerch, Kristina Maletz, and Christina deVries across the finish line.

It was the first time Rochester hosted the international championships; 10,921 runners registered for the regular race, which took place at the same time and venue as the championships.

When University of Rochester scientist James McGrath started his career, doing research that would lead to marketable products was not a priority.

But the landscape has changed dramatically. Government funding for research has been stagnant for several years. Public and private grants now come with greater demands for results that can help drive profits and economic development.

Some venture capital firms are investing less in small early-stage projects. Pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers have switched from in-house research to working with universities and other institutions. Partnerships between university researchers and industry have grown.

Imagine a dialysis machine small enough that a patient could wear it. A super-thin filtering material may allow researchers at the University of Rochester to revolutionize dialysis for patients with kidney disease. Jim McGrath, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Rochester, says the thinner the membrane that blood passes through, the more efficient its filtering capacity.

McGrath says the material they're working with filters blood more efficiently, and could end up in a much smaller device that could fit on an arm band. We can basically replace the experience of going to a dialysis center three times a week with nightly dialysis at home with a device that's about the size of a cell phone and achieve the same sort of clearance level. This is actually like a clinic on a chip, he said.