ABSTRACT

A biochip is a collection of miniaturized test sites

(microarrays) arranged on a solid substrate that permits many
tests to be performed at the same time in order to achieve
higher throughput and speed. Like a computer chip that can
perform millions of mathematical operations in one second, a
biochip can perform thousands of biological reactions, such as
decoding genes, in a few seconds. Biochips helped to
dramatically accelerate the identification of the estimated
80,000 genes in human DNA, an ongoing world-wide research
collaboration known as the Human genome project.

Developing a biochip plat-form incorporates electronics for

addressing, reading out,Sensing and controlling temperature
and, in addition, a handheld analyzer capable of multipara
meter identification. The biochip platform can be plugged in a
peripheric standard bus of the analyzer device or communicate
through a wireless channel. Biochip technology has emerged
from the fusion of biotechnology and micro/nanofabrication
technology. Biochips enable us to realize revolutionary new bio
analysis systems that can directly manipulate and analyze the
micro/nano-scale world of biomolecules, organelles and cells.
INTRODUCTION

Most of us won’t like the idea of implanting a biochip in

our body that identifies us uniquely and can be used to track
our location. That would be a major loss of privacy. But there is
a flip side to this! Such biochips could help agencies to locate
lost children, downed soldiers and wandering Alzheimer’s
patients.

The human body is the next big target of chipmakers. It

won’t be long before biochip implants will come to the rescue of
sick, or those who are handicapped in someway. Large amount
of money and research has already gone into this area of
technology.

Anyway, such implants have already experimented with. A

few US companies are selling both chips and their detectors.
The chips are of size of an uncooked grain of rice, small enough
to be injected under the skin using a syringe needle. They
respond to a signal from the detector, held just a few feet
away, by transmitting an identification number. This number is
then compared with the database listings of register pets.

Daniel Man, a plastic surgeon in private practice in Florida,

holds the patent on a more powerful device: a chip that would
enable lost humans to be tracked by satellite.

The term "biochip" has taken on a variety of meanings. In

the most generic sense, any device or component incorporating
biological (or organic) materials -- either extracted from
biological species or synthesized in a laboratory -- on a solid
substrate can be regarded as a biochip. In practical terms,
however, biochips often involve both miniaturization, usually in
micro-array format, and the possibility of low-cost mass
production. Some examples that meet these qualifications
include the electronic nose or artificial nose chip, the electronic
tongue, the polymerase chain reaction chip, the DNA micro-
array chip (GeneChip®), the protein chip, and the biochemical
lab-on-a-chip.The most dynamic investigations into biochips
have been in the GeneChip® probe array and the protein chip.
LITERATURE REVIEW

With the growth in population crossing 2 billion, health

care is one of the niche areas where in lots of importance is
being paid by both the government and private sector
industries. In a society, public health plays an important role.
There is no human being who is ideally healthy. Every family
will have some ill health, sickness and a need exists for
medication. In every locality a hospital is an essential
establishment for the healthcare of its people. Various schemes
are being offered by Indian government to offer health care at
subsidized rates. Another major challenge is the availability of
doctors. It is being projected that in 2020, the ratio of patients
to doctors in India will be 1000:1 and worldwide will be 800:1.

This puts lots of pressure and demand for doctors and

medical practitioners will only rise. Automated drug delivery is
one possible solution to overcome the gap between demand
and supply in health care sector. With the growth in technology
and emergence of nanotechnology, biochips (consisting of
biosensors, signal processing and conditioning circuits and
controllers for drug diffusion) provide easy and reliable
solutions to mankind in tackling the health issues. Automated
drug delivery is an interdisciplinary domain that involves
biosensors (biology/electronics) for detection of virus, neural
network for disease classification.
BIOCHIP DEFINITION

A biochip is a collection of miniaturized test sites (micro

arrays) arranged on a solid substrate that permits many tests
to be performed at the same time in order to get higher
throughput and speed. Typically, a biochip’s surface area is not
longer than a fingernail. Like a computer chip that can perform
millions of mathematical operation in one second, a biochip can
perform thousands of biological operations, such as
decoding genes, in a few seconds.

A genetic biochip is designed to “freeze” into place the

structures of many short strands of DNA (deoxyribonucleic
acid), the basic chemical instruction that determines the
characteristics of an organism. Effectively, it is used as a kind
of “test tube” for real chemical samples.

A specifically designed microscope can determine where

the sample hybridized with DNA strands in the biochip. Biochips
helped to dramatically increase the speed of the identification
of the estimated 80,000 genes in human DNA, in the world wide
research collaboration known as the Human Genome Project.
The microchip is described as a sort of “word search” function
that can quickly sequence DNA.

In addition to genetic applications, the biochip is being

used in toxicological, protein, and biochemical research.
Biochips can also be used to rapidly detect chemical agents
used in biological warfare so that defensive measures can be
taken.Motorola, Hitachi, IBM, Texas Instruments have entered
into the biochip business.
STRUCTUREAND WORKING OF AN ALREADY IMPLANTED
SYSTEM

The biochip implants system consists of two components:

a transponder and a reader or scanner. The transponder is
the actual biochip implant. The biochip system is radio
frequency identification (RFID) system, using low-frequency
radio signals to communicate between the biochip and reader.
The reading range or activation range, between reader and
biochip is small, normally between 2 and 12 inches.

The transponder

The transponder is the actual biochip implant. It is a

passive transponder, meaning it contains no battery or energy
of its own. In comparison, an active transponder would provide
its own energy source, normally a small battery. Because the
passive contains no battery, or nothing to wear out, it has a
very long life up to 99 years, and no maintenance. Being
passive, it is inactive until the reader activates it by sending it a
low-power electrical charge. The reader reads or scans the
implanted biochip and receives back data (in this case an
identification number) from the biochips. The communication
between biochip and reader is via low-frequency radio
waves. Since the communication is via very low frequency
radio waves it is nit at all harmful to the human body.

The biochip-transponder consists of four parts; computer

microchip, antenna coil, capacitor and the glass capsule.
Figure 1:Complete Biochip

Computer Microchip

The microchip stores a unique identification number from

10 to 15 digits long. The storage capacity of the current
microchips is limited, capable of storing only a single ID
number. AVID (American Veterinary Identification Devices),
claims their chips, using a nnn-nnn-nnn format, has the
capability of over 70 trillion unique numbers. The unique ID
number is “etched” or encoded via a laser onto the surface of
the microchip before assembly. Once the number is encoded it
is impossible to alter. The microchip also contains the
electronic circuitry necessary to transmit the ID number to the
“reader”.

Antenna Coil
 This is normally a simple, coil of copper wire around a
ferrite or iron core. This tiny, primitive, radio antenna receives
and sends signals from the reader or scanner.

Tuning Capacitor

The capacitor stores the small electrical charge (less than

1/1000 of a watt) sent by the reader or scanner, which
activates the transponder. This “activation” allows the
transponder to send back the ID number encoded in the
computer chip. Because “radio waves” are utilized to
communicate between the transponder and reader, the
capacitor is tuned to the same frequency as the reader.

Glass Capsule

The glass capsule “houses” the microchip, antenna coil

and capacitor. It is a small capsule, the smallest measuring 11
mm in length and 2 mm in diameter, about the size of an
uncooked grain of rice. The capsule is made of biocompatible
material such as soda lime glass. After assembly, the capsule
is hermetically (air-tight) sealed, so no bodily fluids can touch
the electronics inside. Because the glass is very smooth and
susceptible to movement, a material such as a polypropylene
polymer sheath is attached to one end of the capsule. This
sheath provides a compatible surface which the boldly tissue
fibers bond or interconnect, resulting in a permanent
placement of the biochip.

Biochip insertion into the subject

 The biochip is inserted into the subject with a hypodermic
syringe. Injection is safe and simple, comparable to common
vaccines. Anesthesia is not required nor recommended. In dogs
and cats, the biochip is usually injected behind the neck
between the shoulder blades.

Figure 2:Biochip & syringe

The reader

The reader consists of an “exciter coil” which creates an

electromagnetic field that, via radio signals, provides the
necessary energy (less than 1/1000 of a watt) to “excite” or
“activate” the implanted biochip. The reader also carries a
receiving coil that receives the transmitted code or ID number
sent back from the “activated” implanted biochip. This all takes
place very fast, in milliseconds. The reader also contains the
software and components to decode the received code and
display the result in an LCD display. The reader can include a
RS-232 port to attach a computer.
Figure 3:Reader

How it works

The reader generates a low-power, electromagnetic field,

in this case via radio signals, which “activates” the implanted
biochip. This “activation” enables the biochip to send the ID
code back to the reader via radio signals. The reader amplifies
the received code, converts it to digital format, decodes and
displays the ID number on the reader’s LCD display. The reader
must normally be between 2 and 12 inches near the biochip to
communicate. The reader and biochip can communicate
through most materials, except metal.
BIOCHIPS CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT

1. Chips that follow footsteps

2. Glucose level detectors

Chips that follow footsteps

The civil liberties debate over biochips has obscured their

more ethically benign and medically useful applications.
Medical researchers have been working to integrate chips and
people for many years, often plucking devices from well known
electronic appliances. Jeffry Hausdorff of the Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has used the type of
pressure sensitive resistors found in the buttons of a microwave
oven as stride timers. He places one sensor in the heel of a
shoe, and one in the toe, adds a computer to the ankle to
calculate the duration of each stride.

“Young, healthy subjects can regulate the duration of each

step very accurately,” he says. But elderly patients prone to
frequent falls have extremely variable stride times, a flag that
could indicate the need for more strengthening exercises or a
change in medication. Hausdorff is also using the system to
determine the success of a treatment for congestive heart
failure. By monitoring the number of strides that a person
takes, can directly measure the patient’s activity level,
bypassing the often-flowed estimate made by the patient.

Glucose level detectors

 Diabetics currently use a skin prick and a handheld blood
test, and then medicate themselves with the required amount
of insulin. The system is simple and works well, but the need to
draw blood means that most diabetics do not test themselves
as often as they should. The new S4MS chip will simply sit
under the skin, sense the glucose level, and send the result
back out by radio frequency communication.

A light emitting diode starts off the detection process. The

light that it produces hits a fluorescent chemical: one that
absorbs the incoming light and re-emits it at a longer
wavelength. The longer wavelength of light is detected, and the
result is send to a control panel outside the body. Glucose is
detected because the sugar reduces the amount of light that a
fluorescent chemical re-emits. The more glucose is there the
less light that is detected.

S4MS is still developing the perfect fluorescent chemical,

but the key design innovation of the S4MS chip has been fully
worked out. The idea is simple: the LED is sitting in a sea of
fluorescent molecules. In most detectors the light source is far
away from the fluorescent molecules, and the inefficiencies
that come with that mean more power and larger devices. The
prototype S4MS chip uses a 22 microwatt LED, almost forty
times less powerful than a tiny power-on buttons on a computer
keyboard. The low power requirements mean that energy can
be supplied from outside, by a process called induction. The
fluorescent detection itself does not consume any chemicals or
proteins, so the device is self sustaining.
TYPICAL PROBLEM OF BIOCHIPS

 A chip implant would contain a person’s financial world,

medical history health care — it would contain his
electronic life.
 If cash no longer existed and if the world’s economy was
totally chip oriented; — there would be a huge "black-
market" for chips! Since there is no cash criminals would
cut off hands and heads, stealing "rich-folks" chips.
 It is very dangerous because once kidnappers get to know
about these chips, they will skin people to find them".

Advantages

 To rescue the sick

 To find lost people.
 To locate downed children and wandering Alzheimer’s
Patients.
 To identify person uniquely.
 They can perform thousands of biological reactions
operations in few seconds.
 In monitoring health condition of individuals in which they
are specifically employed.
 They can perform thousands of biochemical reactions.
Disadvantages

 They raise critical issues of personal privacy.

 They mark the end of human freedom and dignity.
 3.They may not be supported by large % of people.
 There is a danger of turning every man, women, and
 Child into a controlled slave.
 Through cybernitic biochip implants people will think and
act as exactly pre-programmed.
 They can be implanted into one’s body without their
knowledge.
MAJOR ROLE OF BIOCHIP IN MEDICAL FIELD

In their fight against cancer, doctors have just gained an

impressive new weapon to add to their armory. Researchers at
the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory
have developed a chip that can save lives by diagnosing certain
cancers even before patients become symptomatic. The new
technology, known as a biochip, consists of a one-centimeter by
one centimeter array that comprises anywhere between
several dozen and several hundred dots or small drops. Each of
these drops contains a unique protein, antibody or nucleic acid
that will attach to a particular DNA sequence or antigen.

A tumor, even in its earliest asymptomatic phases, can

slough off proteins that find their way into a patient's
circulatory system. These proteins trigger the immune system
to kick into gear, producing antibodies that regulate which
proteins belong and which do not.

Antibodies are the guardians of what goes on in the body,"

as mentioned by Tim Barder, president of Eprogen, Inc., which
has licensed Argonne's biochip technology to search for new
biomarkers that indicate cancer. If a cancer cell produces
aberrant proteins, then it is very likely that the patient will have
an antibody profile that differs from that of a healthy person.
You can look for similarities and differences in autoantibody
profiles to look for clues and markers that provide early
indicators of disease.
 In their hunt for cancer indicators, Eprogen uses a process
called 2-dimesional protein fractionation, which sorts thousands
of different proteins from cancer cells by both their electrical
charge and their hydrophobicity or stickiness.

The 2-D fractionation process creates 960 separate

protein fractions, which are then arranged in a single biochip
containing 96-well grids. Eprogen scientists then probe the
microarrays with known serum or plasma autoantibodies
produced by the immune systems of cancer patients.

By using cancer patients own auto-antibodies as a

diagnostic tool, doctors could potentially tailor treatments
based on their personal autoantibody profile [6]. This
technology is really designed to take advantage of the
information contained within the patient's own biology and
what that makes this technique unique is that scientists can
use the actual expression of the patient's disease as a means
of obtaining new and better diagnostic information that doctors
could use to understand and fight cancer better.

Biochips have already shown promise in diagnostic

medicine, according to Argonne biologist Daniel Schabacker,
who developed the technology. In addition to Eprogen, three
other companies have licensed biochips. One of these
companies, Akonni Biosystems of Frederick, Md., has already
produced dozens of assays, which it markets under the
TruArray® brand name. Similarly Safeguard Biosystems,
licensed biochips for veterinary diagnostic applications. When a
biochip is tailored to detect upper respiratory diseases which is
exposed to a swab when taken from a patient's mouth, for
instance, the binding patterns of the proteins or nucleic acids in
the array cause the dots to "light up" when scanned and
analyzed with a computer. Computer algorithms decode the dot
pattern produced by the biochip. The computation of statistical
likelihood of each possible infection and provide this
information to the doctor.

Suppose someone shows up to the hospital with an upper

respiratory infection ailment. The first thing a doctor is going to
want to know is whether the infection is viral or bacterial, this is
especially true in pediatrics. And ideally, they'd really like to
have a single test that they can run very rapidly that will
identify exactly which disease you have from a dozen top
targets.

The development of products like TruArray will soon

revolutionize doctors' ability to quickly diagnose a number of
diseases. For example, while existing rapid strep tests
performed by many pediatricians take only a few minutes to
process, they yield so many false negatives those doctors
routinely send out the samples for subsequent rounds of more
thorough, time consuming and expensive analysis.

Platform lies in the fact that we can screen a single

sample for multiple viral and bacterial infections at the same
time. Soon, doctors will no longer need to order as many
expensive and time-consuming tests, and can instead obtain
accurate diagnoses that will enable them to quickly provide
their patients with targeted treatment strategies. Though the
analysis of a sample on a biochip can take 30 minutes,
scientists can have much more confidence in the accuracy of
the diagnosis. Biochips give us the ability to run a test that
allows your doctor to figure out exactly what you're suffering
from during the time that you're in his or her office.

While biochips will allow doctors to more quickly and

authoritatively explain you, they might also be used for
patients who exhibit symptoms of much more serious
infections. By adding just a few more drops to the chip's array,
Schabacker claimed, lab technicians could test for a whole slate
of biotoxins and especially virulent diseases from the plague to
smallpox to anthrax .

Other infections, such as those caused by Multidrug

Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and the often deadly
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), can be
quickly diagnosed with biochips like Akonni's TruArray assay,
according to Daitch.

The most important thing with these types of infections is

that you have to be right and get the answer quickly. Some of
the tests out there, though marginally quicker than ours, are so
inaccurate that they're almost useless. Especially when you're
talking about anthrax or plague, you have to be confident in
your diagnosis or else risk causing a panic.
BIOCHIP IS UP TO THE MARK OF THE MONSTER

The biochip technology was originally developed for

monitoring fisheries as mentioned, it’s use now includes, over
300 zoos, over 80 government agencies in at least 20
countries, pets also , electronic branding of horses, monitoring
lab animals, fisheries, endangered wildlife, automobiles,
garment tracking, hazardous waste and according to the
experts.. To date, over 7 million animals have been chipped.
The major biochip companies are A.V.I.D. (American Veterinary
Identification Devices), Trovan Identification Systems, and
Destron-Fearing Corporation. And according to most modern-
day sayings the implanted biochip is the soon-coming in
humans also.

COMMON MYTHS ABOUT BIOCHIPS IMPLANTS

A. With a biochip can be used to track you or your pet’s

location, anywhere in the world- The current biochip and
reader has a maximum range of 12 inches. Pet’s are
located by shelters, vets and find a lost pet and reading
it’s biochip. The technology does not exist to globally
locate something as small as a biochip.
B. A biochip can store and update your financial, medical,
demographic data, basically everything about you- The
common scenario is, an implanted biochip can be scanned
to pay for groceries, obtain medical procedures, conduct
financial transactions
 C. One major concern with a implanted biochip is theft-
According to the authorities a chip implant would contain
your financial world, medical history, health care it would
contain your "electronic life".

If cash no longer existed and if the world’s economy was

totally chip oriented; — there would be a huge "black-market"
for chips! Since there is no cash and no other bartering system,
criminals would cut off hands and heads, stealing "rich-folks"
chips.

D.
APPLICATIONS OF BIOCHIP

Genomics

Genomics is the study of gene sequences in living

organisms and being able to read and interpret them. The
human genome has been the biggest project undertaken to
date but there are many research projects around the world
trying to map the gene sequences of other organisms. The use
of Biochip facilitate: Automated genomic analysis including
genotyping, gene expression DNA isolation from complex
matrices with aim to increase recovery efficiency DNA
amplification by optimizing the copy number DNA hybridization
assays to improve speed and stringency .5.2Proteomics.

Proteome analysis or Proteomics is the investigation of all

the proteins present in a cell, tissue or organism. Proteins,
which are responsible for all biochemical work within a cell, are
often the targets for development of new drugs. The use of
Biochip facilitate:

 High throughput proteomic analysis Multi-dimensional

 micro separations (pre LC/MS) to achieve high plate
number Electro kinetic sample injection for fast,
reproducible, samples
 Stacking or other preconcentration methods (as a
precursor to biosensors) to improve detection limits
 Kinetic analysis of interactions between proteins to
enable accurate, transport-free kinetics
Cellomics

Every living creature is made up of cells, the basic building

blocks of life.. Cells are used widely by for several applications
including study of drug cell interactions for drug discovery, as
well as in bio sensing. The use of Biochip facilitate:

 Design/develop"lab-in-cell" platforms handling single or

few cells with nan probes in carefully
 Controlled environments.
 Cell handling, which involve sorting and positioning of
the cells optimally using DEP, optical traps etc.
 Field/reagent based cell lysis, where the contents of the
cell are expelled out by breaking the membrane,
 or increase the efficiency of transfection using
reagents/field Intracellular processes to obtain high
quality safety/toxicity ADME/T data

BIODIAGNOSTICS AND (NANO) BIOSENSORS

Bio diagnostics or bio sensing is the field of sensing

biological molecules based on electrochemical, biochemical,
optical, luminometric methods. The use of Biochip facilitate:
Genetic/Biomarker Diagnostics, development of Bio warfare
sensors which involves optimization of the platform, reduction
in detection time and improving the signal-to-noise ratio

Selection of detection platform where different formats

such as lateral flow vs. microfluidics are compared for
ease/efficiency Incorporation of suitable sensing modality by
evaluating trade-offs and down select detection modes(colour /
luminometric, electrochemical, biochemical, optical methods)
for specific need.

Protein Chips for Diagnosis and Analysis of Diseases

The Protein chip is a micro-chip with its surface modified

to detect various disease causing proteins simultaneously in
order to help find a cure for them. Bio-chemical materials such
as antibodies responding to proteins, receptors, and nucleic
acids are to be fixed to separate and analyze protein.

DEVELOPMENTS & PROJECTS

View of the Future

The immediate prospects for biochip technology depend

on a range of technologic and economic issues. One is the
question of chip reusability. Current biochips are of necessity
disposable, in part because the current devices are not
physically robust. For example, nucleic acid probes tend to
break away from a supporting glass plate. A decade from now,
this problem may have been better addressed, making the
chips more reusable, and perhaps at the same time permitting
probes with longer spans of genetic data than are feasible
today.

In this way, a manufacturing improvement might facilitate

more powerful forms of genetic analysis. On the other hand, it
may be better to manufacture biochips so inexpensive that
they can be used once and then discarded. Another issue is
biochip versatility. Current biochips are single-purpose,
hardwired devices. Even if future biochips do not become
programmable, in the fashion of computer chips, they may
become usable for multiple purposes, such as the analysis of a
tissue sample for numerous pathogens. An overarching issue is
standardization. For diagnostic purposes, any medical test
should be administered, and its results interpreted, in a
standardized way. Beyond that, it seems desirable for biochips
performing different tests to have an output detectable by the
same readout device.

Hence, a race is underway to create a biochip platform or

motherboard capable of handling a wide range of biochips,
irrespective of the internal details of a given chip's function. In
particular, two companies, Affymetrix and Molecular Dynamics,
have formed the Genetic Analysis Technology Consortium, or
GATC (a name that also represents the four nucleotides that
carry genetic code in DNA). The hope is to establish industry-
wide standards for the reading of biochips.
CONCLUSION

Biochips are fast, accurate, miniaturized, and can be

expected to become economically advantageous attributes that
make them analogous to a computer chip. One expects to see
an accelerated trend of ultra miniaturization, perhaps involving
entirely novel media, and an increased ability to analyze not
only genetic material but also other types of biologic molecules.
One expects, too, an eventual harmonization of technologies,
so that dominant fabrication strategies will emerge, at least for
certain types of applications, including a favoured format for
genetic analysis and another for antibodies and other proteins.
Since the potential applications are vast, both for research and
for clinical use, the potential markets for biochips will be huge,
a powerful driving force for their continued development.

The biochip space lies at the intersection between high

technology chip manufacturing, signal processing, software
skills and more traditional molecular biology and genomics. The
market for biosensors and biochips is interdisciplinary and
growing and has applications in a number of core research
areas. This paper presents a valuable context addition for those
in both academia and industry. As this fast maturing field
already boasts sales of products, biochips are likely to have a
significant business future. We can expect that advances in
microfluidic biochip technology will enable the miniaturization
of devices that will allow highly sensitive analysis of complex
biological interactions in real time that to with a low cost
perception.
 Biochips promises to bring genomics, the study of all the
genes in existing organisms, out of the research laboratory and
into the everyday practice of medicine. If genomics delivers on
its promise, health care will shift from a focus on detection and
treatment to a process of prediction and prevention.
REFERENCES

1. www.google.com
2. www.wikipedia.com
3. www.studymafia.org