Products that merge biology with glass, plastic, silicon, or even cellulose, biochips are effective tools in the field of molecular identification. Applications include the identification of pathogens in the agro-food industries as well as medical diagnosis for genetic disease screening. This technology may boost traceability and total quality systems for public health protocols.
French company Genolife offers custom-designed biochip solutions for industrial applications. According to Frank Chaubron, co-founder of the company, Biochips offer high speed analysis, requiring just a few hours to obtain an interpretable result.
Biochips are only a few square centimeters in area and can transform into a lab-on-a-chip or even a bioprocessor (an advanced microsystem) that could perform multiple stages of preparation, treatment, and analysis of biological samples in parallel.
Also carrying out the groundwork for labs-on-a-chip and miniaturization is Genesystems, a Brittany-based company in western France. The firm is developing an integrated analysis system including a device for processing samples and laboratories-on-a-chip. Currently being launched, these techniques are allowing Genesystems to enter the market for bacteriological surveillance, including listeria, salmonella, and other bacteria responsible for toxi-infections, and also for the detection of GMOs in the agro-food industry.
Further information can be found at www.infotechfrance.com.
