Pioneer of miniaturisation: “The incredible shrinking Manz” Andreas Manz nominated finalist for 2015 European Inventor Award
- European Patent Office (EPO) lists pioneer in microfluidics and intellectual father of microlab chip technology for top innovation prize
- With his "lab-on-a-chip" Andreas Manz revolutionises analysis systems
- Swiss scientist paves the way for the miniaturisation of medicinal, biological, and chemical analyses
- Worldwide use of the ground-breaking innovation in pharmaceutical research, diagnostics, and preventive medicine
- EPO President Battistelli: "With his lab-on-a-chip Andreas Manz has made a ground-breaking contribution to diagnostics and measurement, as it enables far faster and more affordable laboratory testing."
Munich/Zurich, 21 April 2015 -- Medical, biological, or chemical analyses conducted in millimetre-sized microlabs which deliver results in seconds - thanks to the ingenious work of Swiss scientist Andreas Manz (58), once utopian dreams in medicine are now becoming a reality. Manz, who holds a PhD in chemistry, is regarded as a pioneer in microfluidics research and the intellectual father of lab-on-a-chip technology, which can be used to perform miniaturised laboratory processes. With his invention, Manz has sparked a technological revolution, enabling new applications that are now used around the world: from research institutes, where the chips are widely used in genetic and cellular analyses, to private use in modern glucose measurement kits that help diabetes patients on a daily basis. Quick tests performed via a flash drive, which can then be used to detect and prevent hereditary diseases, are also nothing short of revolutionary. For his work, the European Patent Office (EPO) has named Andreas Manz a finalist for the 2015 European Inventor Award in the Lifetime Achievement category. The winners of the 10th edition of the annual innnovation award will be announced at a ceremony on 11 June in Paris.
"Thanks to his innovative talent, Andreas Manz has paved the way for profound technological advancements in diagnostics," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli, announcing the finalists for this year's award. "Today we have an increasing number of applications that help us detect diseases more quickly and cost-effectively, and Manz has played a major role in making this possible. This gives us entirely new possibilities for early-phase therapy and even disease prevention."
From insects to the microlab
Even as a child Manz was fascinated by nature's capacity to achieve an enormous level of efficiency at the microscopic scale: the complex behavioural repertoire, as well as the shape and function of the smallest insects were so exciting to Manz that it inspired him to start developing new ideas for micro-analysis systems over the course of his career. He saw microfluidics, or the micro-scale behaviour of fluids in a tiny space, as the key to developing even smaller and faster applications.
Manz laid the academic foundation for his basic approach during his studies in chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). After completing his PhD and starting to work as a researcher at Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis), his first breakthrough came in 1990, when he created the first Miniaturised Total Analysis System (μTAS). It was a technological sensation: the millimetre-sized lab-on-a-chip combined available microchip technology borrowed from microelectronics with chemical separation and detection techniques (electrophoresis, fluorescence). For the first time, an entire sequence of lab processes was held on a single chip. It could be used, for instance, to analyse a small drop of blood in seconds, a hitherto unconceivable feat. Today, Manz's invention makes it possible to receive information from medical and bio-chemical analyses 100 times faster than before; in the future this factor may even reach 10 000.
The lab-on-a-chip technology developed by Manz has become a buzzword for the continuous miniaturisation of analytical systems and microchips with integrated pumps, valves, and channels. According to a report from 2011, the lab-on-a-chip market will reach a volume of EUR 7.8 billion by 2016. A report from 2014 predicts market growth of 18 per cent between 2014 and 2019.
Miniaturised analysis equipment for regions lacking medical infrastructure
This microlab chip technology has the potential to deliver fast point-of-care diagnostics in regions with limited medical resources and poorly equipped clinics. This could save the lives of millions, because it will enable the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of pandemic diseases or major common illnesses. Thanks to Manz's technology, microsystems are currently being developed for the early-phase diagnosis of HIV, malaria, dengue fever, cancer and genetic diseases.
Brilliant inventor and researcher
Currently a scientist at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology in Saarbrücken (KIST Europe) and Professor at Saarland University, both in Germany, Manz can look back at a long career as a researcher. After working in Hitachi's research unit in Japan and at the pharmaceutical specialist Ciba-Geigy, he accepted a professorship at Imperial College in London, where he directed the Zeneca/SmithKline Beecham Centre for Analytical Sciences. During that time, he also worked as a scientific consultant for several companies in the field of lab-on-a-chip technology, one of which he himself founded. In 2003, he moved to Germany, where he directed the Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS) in Dortmund until 2008. In the course of his career, Manz's ideas have been entirely innovative, such as the development of analysis technics that combine Van de Graaff generators with microfluidics systems. This ingenuity is expressed in nearly 40 patents, all primarily attributed to Manz, and more than 250 scientific papers - including his game-changing essay on the new concept of "miniaturised total chemical analysis systems". "Chemistry done at the micrometer scale is at its fastest, and most efficient," says Manz. "That's why nature has chosen this scale for cells in our body."
Additional resources
- Read more about the inventor
- View the patents: EP0653631, EP0544969, EP0497077
On the path to miniaturised medical technology
A trend that has long been part of the IT world is now one of the biggest topics in medical technology today, thanks to Andreas Manz. Similar to how the microprocessor reduced the size of computers, Manz's microsystems have the potential to enable even smaller and more rapid technologies in medicine. And the first applications are already on the market. Read more about the future of medicine
Contacts:
Rainer Osterwalder
Director Media Relations
European Patent Office
Tel. +49 (0)89 2399 1820
rosterwalder@epo.org
Jeremy Philpott
Project Manager
European Patent Office
Tel. +49 (0)89 2399 1805
jphilpott@epo.org
Axel Schafmeister
Shepard Fox Communications
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axel.schafmeister@shepard-fox.com