Editing Lab-on-a-chip (section)

{{Short description|Device integrating laboratory functions on a integrated circuit}}
{{About|the technology|the journal|Lab on a Chip (journal){{!}}''Lab on a Chip'' (journal)}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2010}}

A '''lab-on-a-chip''' ('''LOC''') is a device that integrates one or several [[laboratory]] functions on a single [[integrated circuit]] (commonly called a "chip") of only millimeters to a few square centimeters to achieve automation and [[high-throughput screening]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Volpatti, L. R. |author2=Yetisen, A. K. | title = Commercialization of microfluidic devices | journal = Trends in Biotechnology | volume = 32 | issue = 7 | pages = 347–350 |date=Jul 2014 | doi = 10.1016/j.tibtech.2014.04.010 |pmid=24954000 }}</ref> LOCs can handle extremely small fluid volumes down to less than [[pico-]]liters. Lab-on-a-chip devices are a subset of [[microelectromechanical systems]] (MEMS) devices and sometimes called "micro [[total analysis system]]s" (μTAS). LOCs may use [[microfluidics]], the physics, manipulation and study of minute amounts of fluids. However, strictly regarded "lab-on-a-chip" indicates generally the scaling of single or multiple lab processes down to chip-format, whereas "μTAS" is dedicated to the integration of the total sequence of lab processes to perform chemical analysis.