The ChemSitu Microfluidic Technology for In Situ Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Microfluidic Devices, from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is a microfluidic chip and chemical analysis system that allows in situ chemical characterization at any point within the device. It provides a new analytical capability to solve the problem of elucidating the complex chemistry occurring within microfluidic devices. With the advent and continued growth of biology-on-a-chip devices, the ability to understand the chemical composition of such systems in situ is becoming more critical. Society and industry rely extensively on our chemical understating of living systems to diagnose disease and to develop new and more effective therapeutics. Industries such as oncology and pharmacokinetics need to evaluate therapeutic effectiveness in living systems, and biology-on-a-chip devices with a broad chemical analysis capability represent an ethical, cost-effective means to assess them. The collective features of the ChemSitu microfluidic technology make it more versatile than any other chemical analysis capability in the microfluidic device market, opening the door to numerous applications requiring mass spectrometric chemical analysis of such devices.
