BioChips: Biology meeting technology

One of the first biochip ever created was by Affymetrix, an American company that developed the product called GeneChip (DNA microarrays). It’s an amalgam of biology and technology as the title suggests. More than that, it contributes a lot in the area of Biological Sciences. To understand it at more depth, let’s find out more about it.

What are Biochips?
Basically, the term “Biochips” can be referred to any component or device integrating biological materials, each removed from biological species or manufactured in a laboratory, on a firm substrate. In other words, a set of moderated microarrays employed on a resilient substrate that permits numerous experiments to be performed at the same time to attain a high output in a reduced amount of time. This device holds billions of sensor elements or biosensors and is not electrical device. Every biochip can be reflected as a microreactor that can identify an individual analyte like a protein, enzyme, DNA, or antibody. The chief purpose of this chip is to execute several biological reactions in a single go within a few seconds like decoding genes (a sequence of DNA).

Various examples of meeting the above-mentioned criteria include the electronic tongue, artificial nose chip, Polymerase chain reaction PCR chip, the DNA micro-array chip (gene chip), and the protein chip. Though, the most vigorous studies have been linked to GeneChip and ProteinChip. These products encompass loads of distinct DNA sensors used for sensing faults. Biochips are playing a key role in the fields of systems biology and disease biology where we see an increase in its clinical uses. Biochips are primarily the blend of molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics. Biochips also estimate organic molecules activity linked with aliving organism.

Basic Principle of a Biochip’s working:
The main working principle of Biochip contains the following four steps.

1. The creation of a low-power electromagnetic field via radio signals by the operator.
2. The fixed biochip is switched on.
3. The triggered chip transfers the identification code reverse to the operator by radio signals.
4. The reader fortifies the received code to modify it into digital form and lastly displays it on LCD.

Constituents of BioChips
The Biochip contains two components namely the transponder as well as the reader.
1. Transponder
Transponders are further divided into two types called an active and passive transponder. The passive transponder doesn’t contain any of its own energy or batter. Also in passive type, it is not active until the operator stimulates it by supplying it with a low electrical charge. Transponder, in general, has four parts antenna coil, computer microchip, a glass capsule, and a tuning capacitor. 10 digits to 15 digits long unique identification (UID) number is stored by microchip whereby a small antenna coil is meant to receive and send the signals from the reader or scanner. Tuning capacitors can be charged with minor signals for example 1/1000 of a watt referred by the operator. The glass capsule grips the antenna coil, microchip, and capacitor and it is prepared with a biocompatible material called soda-lime glass.
2. Reader
The reader encompasses a coil “exciter” and it creates an electromagnetic field via radio signals. It suggests the requisite energy (<1/1000 of a watt) stimulates the biochip. The reader owns a receiving coil for the reception of the ID number or transferred code sent back from the triggered embedded biochip.

Kinds of Biochips
There are three sorts of Biochips available namely DNA microarray, microfluidic chip, and protein microarray.

1. DNA Microarray
A DNA microarray or DNA biochip is a set of minute DNA spots secured to a solid surface. It’s used to compute the expression levels for a great number of genes. Each DNA mark includes picomoles of specific genes that are labeled as probes. Typically, probe-target hybridization is observed in it.
2. Microfluidic Chip
Microfluidic biochips or lab-on-a-chip are a select to normal biochemical laboratories and are renovating numerous applications such as DNA analysis, molecular biology techniques, and proteomics. They are becoming more intricate having 1000’s of constituents that are made physically.
3. Protein Microarray
A protein microarray owns the purpose of following the actions along with networks of proteins, and to identify their function on a bigger scale. The main benefit of protein microarray is that we can track a greater number of proteins in equivalent. Protein chip contains a surface for assisting like microtiter plate or bead, glass side, and nitrocellulose membrane. These are automatic, quick, cheap, profound, and use a limited quantity of samples. Biochips Advantages and Disadvantages
Benefits
Biochips are:
• Minute in size but extremely rapid and powerful
• Used to cater to the needs of the sick.
• Beneficial in searching the lost people
• Used to recognize the persons exclusively
• Used to execute thousands of biological reactions in a few seconds.
Drawbacks
Biochips are:
• Expensive
• Initiating risky difficulties of discrete privacy.
• Threat to humans liberty and self-respect changing every person into a controlled person
• Capable of getting immobilized into the human’s body without their intrusion.

Biochips Applications
The applications of biochip include the following:
• A biochip points to reliable and innocuous E-commerce systems.
• Biochips can be used to trace a person or animal wherever it’s around the world.
• It can be used to update and store a person’s information like financial aspects and demographics.
• These chips are efficacious in reestablishing the archives of cash, medical, and passport.
• Biochips can be utilized in the medicinal field as an oxygen and Blood pressure sensor, glucose detector, etc.

By: Roha Tariq