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PCB-Feb2017

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60 The PCB Magazine • February 2017 by Alun Morgan EIPC The Premier Inn conference centre at Heath- row Airport was the venue for the EIPC work- shop on PCB BioMEMS. What, I hear you ask, is a PCB BioMEMS? This is an abbreviation for biomedical (or biological) microelectrome- chanical systems, otherwise known as lab-on- chip. Given the strong market pull for more BioMEMS devices (USD $2.5 billion in 2014 and anticipated to grow at CAGR of more than 25% from 2016 to 2023), the commercialization of lab-on-chip devices is currently the Holy Grail of the research community. The lab-on-PCB ap- proach (aka PCB BioMEMS) is being followed in various research groups all over Europe, owing to its inherent upscaling potential: the PCB in- dustry is well-established all around the world, with standardized fabrication facilities and pro- cesses is currently commercially exploited only for electronics. The workshop began with an introduction from Dr. Despina Moschou, 50th Anniversa- ry Prize Fellow/Lecturer at the Centre for Ad- vanced Sensor Technologies at the University of Bath. It was Despina who first intro- duced the concept of PCB BioMEMS to the EIPC at its Summer Conference in Ed- inburgh in June 2016, which ignited interest. She asked why lab-on-chip is not al- ready more established using PCB technologies to provide the needed integration between the microfluidics, the biological elements and the electronics required to form an analytical sys- tem highlighting the long-standing industrial infrastructure, microfabrication capabilities and intuitive integration of electronics. The first speaker was Dr. Yuksel Temiz of IBM's Zu- rich Research Laboratory. Dr. Temiz explained that although there are over 1,400+ infectious species and 347 significant diseases, less than 5% of their preva- lence has been accurately FEATURE EIPC Workshop on PCB BioMEMS Dr. Despina Moschou Dr. Yuksel Temiz

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