Chip-Care

Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) technology integrates one or several laboratory functions on to a single chip that may be only millimetres to a few square centimetres in size. That chip, in turn, provides a faster, cheaper and more efficient way to carry out analyses in the field that would otherwise need to be done in a dedicated facility.

ChipCare , a company spun out of a University of Toronto research project, presented Nytric with the goal of integrating a LOC into a hand-held device that would allow health-care workers to conduct point-of-care clinical diagnostics in HIV patients, and thereby determine the best point in time to begin antiretroviral treatment. Such technology is particularly needed in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 22 million people live with HIV. Current diagnostic methods involve the use of bulky equipment that needs to be transported in a vehicle. Results can take days, even weeks, and may be received too late for many.

Nytric is currently conducting in depth research for ChipCare into the process of Flow Cytometry and has produced initial prototypes in a process of gradually miniaturizing the technology into a portable and cost effective system that can be used virtually anywhere.