Lab-on-a-chip systems for biomedical and environmental monitoring

During the last decade, pocket-sized analytical equipment based on the "lab-on-a-chip" approach has become available. These chips, in combination with portable electronic equipment, are applicable in, for example, "point-of-care" ion analysis of body fluids, forensics, identification of explosives, tracking of pollution in environmental or waste waters, monitoring nutrients in agricultural or horticultural water, controlling quality in food production, or process control in chemical industry. This paper discusses several demonstrator systems with applications in these fields.