[sarex] NO FOOLIN - LAB ON A CHIP

[Arthur Rowe]

 > No Foolin' -- 'Lab on a Chip' Works!
 > 04.06.2007-SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
 >
 > April 6, 2007: "What a huge relief," says Norman Wainwright of the 
Charles River Laboratories in Charleston, SC. "The whole technical team 
was delighted that it worked so well."
 >
 >He's talking about a miniature biological laboratory just tested for 
the first time onboard the International Space Station. Called LOCAD-PTS 
(short for Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development–Portable Test System), 
the mini-lab detects the presence of bacteria or fungi on the surfaces 
of a spacecraft far more rapidly than standard methods of culturing.
 >
 > Right: LOCAD-PTS, a handheld biological laboratory for space travel. 
[More]
 >
 > "The ability to monitor microorganisms would be especially important 
on long space voyages, not only to check the health of astronauts but 
also to monitor electronics and structural materials, which can be 
corroded or otherwise damaged by certain fungi and bacteria," says 
Wainwright, the experiment's principal investigator. LOCAD-PTS is 
designed so that "astronauts can do the analysis onboard with no need to 
return samples to laboratories on Earth.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY GO TO:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/06apr_locad2.htm?list833