MSc SIS Edinburgh Course - Lab-on-Chip Technologies PHYS5079

  • Academic Session: 2024-25
  • School: School of Physics and Astronomy
  • Credits: 10
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: No
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No

Short Description

This module will outline the basic concept of devices that integrate one or several laboratory functions on a single chip, and how they can offer advantages specific to their application. Such advantages include: low fluid volumes that lead to lower reagent costs and smaller biological samples for diagnostic purposes; faster analysis and response times that also provide better process control; the ability through parallel processing to provide high throughput screening; and inherent low fabrication costs that make disposable chips economically viable. The influence of the scaling-down of dimensions on the physico-chemical behaviour of fluids and chemical reactions will also be covered. Current applications of lab-on-chip devices will be given.

Timetable

None

Requirements of Entry

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

PHYS5044 Fundamentals of Sensing

Assessment

The course work worth 20% weighting is an assignment

Main Assessment In: April/May

Are reassessment opportunities available for all summative assessments? No

Edinburgh University does not provide resit examinations for MSc students. In cases where an assessment is affect by reasons of good cause a revised mark, based on other completed assessments, may be substituted.

Course Aims

Current applications of lab-on-chip devices will be given.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to demonstrate: 

1. An appreciation of the design and development of microfluidic devices that can perform many, if not all, of the functions typically associated with full-scale automated biochemical analysis devices containing pumps, mixers, heat elements, read-out electronics, etc.

2. Knowledge of how to avoid the requirement of external power sources or instrumentation by incorporating into these devices the inherent properties of the fluid and its microenvironment (capillary force, evaporation, wicking, heat transfer, diffusion, etc.) for fluid movement, mixing, heating, cooling, and catalyzing chemical reactions.

3. Knowledge of how to apply non-dimensional parameters (e.g.,Knudsen, Peclet, Reynolds number) to practical flow problems.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.