Microfluidic dongle aims to connect lab equipment to computers

A microfluidic dongle is putting the 'universal' back into universal serial bus (USB) by offering a new way to connect lab equipment to computers for data retrieval and analysis.

Microfluidic platforms offer a small-scale means of carrying out analysis like environmental monitoring, food safety tests and medical diagnostics.

Scientists at the University of California - Davis have now created what they believe is a means of using USB to automatically collate the data from such tests.

This has historically proved difficult due to the problems encountered when trying to bridge the gap between the microfluidic device itself and the electronic systems that can read its results.

Assistant professor of biomedical engineering Dr Tingrui Pan says: "We think there is a huge need for an interface to bridge microfluidics to electronic devices."

Dr Pan is principal investigator on the university's MINISYS team and gained his PhD from the University of Minnesota.