Advanced Liquid Logic Buys Nanolytics

Advanced Liquid Logic, a microfluidics “lab-on-a-chip” spinout from Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, announced today it has acquired Nanolytics Inc. Terms were not disclosed.

Advanced Liquid Logic, founded in 2004, is developing a new technology for handling microliquid, called digital microfluidics, that it said will enable small droplets to be moved under direct, programmable, software control to perform complex, liquid-based testing in a palmtop-sized device.

Nanolytics was founded in the late 1990s. An early Nanolytics employee, Michael Pollack, left Nanolytics to further develop the technology at Duke University, then went on to co-found Advanced Liquid Logic in 2004.

Advanced Liquid Logic currently employs about 20 workers. Nanolytics had just two employees.

Advanced Liquid Logic's primary focus is to develop products for medical diagnostics and monitoring. It has demonstrated clinical chemistry assays, immunoassays and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) on the technology platform and is in the process of implementing DNA sequencing, analyte sorting, test multiplexing and integrated sample preparation. The company said it will launch its first commercial product in late 2007.

Richard West, CEO of Advanced Liquid Logic, said the technology has "huge potential" for miniaturizing test equipment and performing complex tests at the point of sample collection.

For more information, visit: www.liquid-logic.com

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Published: February 2007

Glossary

lab-on-a-chip: A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a miniaturized device that integrates various laboratory functions and capabilities onto a single, compact chip. Also known as microfluidic devices, lab-on-a-chip systems are designed to perform a variety of tasks traditionally carried out in conventional laboratories, but on a much smaller scale. These devices use microfabrication techniques to create channels, chambers, and other structures that facilitate the manipulation of fluids, samples, and reactions at the...
microfluidics: Microfluidics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the manipulation and control of very small fluid volumes, typically in the microliter (10-6 liters) to picoliter (10-12 liters) range, within channels or devices with dimensions on the microscale. It integrates principles from physics, chemistry, engineering, and biotechnology to design and fabricate systems that handle and analyze fluids at the micro level. Key features and aspects of microfluidics include: Miniaturization:...
nano: An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
photonics: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...

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