Miniaturized tools and devices for bioanalytical applications: an overview

This article presents an overview of various miniaturized devices and technologies developed by our group. Innovative, fast and cheap procedures for the fabrication of laboratory microsystems based on commercially available materials are reported and compared with well-established microfabrication techniques. The modules fabricated and tested in our laboratory can be used independently or they can be set up in different configurations to form functional measurement systems. We also report further applications of the presented modules e.g. disposable poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microcuvettes, fibre optic detectors, potentiometric sensors platforms, microreactors and capillary electrophoresis (CE) microchips as well as integrated microsystems e.g. double detection microanalytical systems, devices for studying enzymatic reactions and a microsystem for cell culture and lysis.