Challenges and opportunities for translating medical microdevices: insights from the programmable bio-nano-chip.

This perspective highlights the major challenges for the bioanalytical community, in particular the area of lab-on-a-chip sensors, as they relate to point-of-care diagnostics. There is a strong need for general-purpose and universal biosensing platforms that can perform multiplexed and multiclass assays on real-world clinical samples. However, the adoption of novel lab-on-a-chip/microfluidic devices has been slow as several key challenges remain for the translation of these new devices to clinical practice. A pipeline of promising medical microdevice technologies will be made possible by addressing the challenges of integration, failure to compete with cost and performance of existing technologies, requisite for new content, and regulatory approval and clinical adoption.