By Wim Shih, Business Development Manager, Vincogen
SubscribeTechnologies using radio waves are known as radio frequency identification (RFID), where information of specified items are identified have been available since in 1940's during World War II for military application.
It only until the 1980's has there been a significant commercial application. Ever since then, RFID technology has rapidly become widely used worldwide in transportation and logistics, livestock tagging, toll management, and manufacturing and processing security. It wasn't until recent times where the technology was not limited to only high-value items. Based on a report by McKinsey and Company consultants, the price of tags are less than 25 cents from about $1 per unit in 2000. Also, the costs of the tag readers and equipment have fallen significantly in price. The accelerated interest and usage of RFID technology is reflected by the lowering prices (Niemeyer et al., 2003).
RFID is a system that consists of three components: antenna, a transponder programmed with unique information, and a receiver which decodes the unique information. The antenna, which acts as a conduit between the transponder and receiver, emits radio signals to activate the tag on the transponder and read and write information to it. The transponder contains a tag, which responds to a signal for the information it generated. The transponder or tag logic may be read-only or random access. The receiver receives the information transmitted by the transponder and decodes it. The information may further be processed by means of a host computer.
Presently, most RFID business is flourishing at large-scale tracking of retail supplies such as containers and case shipments. The RFID technology is set to replace the outdated barcode scanning within the retail industry. Gillette, in January 2003, placed an order for 500 million RFID tags on their goods, making them the first major manufacturer to initiate such technology. The largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has ordered its top 100 suppliers to place RFID tags on all its pallets and cases by January 2005. Barcodes requires the item to be passed through the line of sight of the reader, thus limiting its efficiency in the lack or readable range.
While with RFID, items carrying the tag have to pass through an electromagnetic field emitted by the read thus allowing greater flexibly and efficiency. The benefits of RFID technology, in the retail industry alone, allows tighter control and management of the supply chain and of inventory management with attendant cost savings; reduced labor costs; improvements in customer service; reductions in shrinkage; and clearer targeting of customers and tracking of their purchasing behavior. The technology would revolutionize the efficiency, accuracy, and security of the supply chain.
RFID application in the biotechnology industry is just as unique and beneficial. Laboratory applications are already based on testing and tracking unique items. RFID tags can be used to track the movement of samples from one lab to another with enhanced security and it'll decreases processing errors. The processing errors may occur from a label-based barcode where it may be contaminated by environmental or testing conditions. The most important demand of RFID technology is that it will offer detailed information of the sample thus maintaining the integrity of the sample life cycle. For court cases that the outcomes are determined by the laboratory test such as DNA profiling, the maintenance of the sample's integrity in forensic laboratories with its evidence trail is as important as the evidence itself.
The blooming industry of the RFID technology in laboratories can be extended in view of what Vincogen Corporation (North Brunswick, NJ, USA) is trying to achieve. Based on their patent, Vincogen has established an ICBiochip, a RFID chip platform with an integrated circuit that can be used as a diagnostic tool as well as a timesaving drug-screening device. The chip will enable researchers and lab technicians to test for multiple diseases in less time, at less cost, and with more reliability than current solutions on the market.
Vincogen's RF ICBiochip (ranging in size from 5 millimeter to 200 micrometers) possesses a combination of features not currently found in existing biochips. The integrated circuit chip for bioassays consists of: A RFID (radio frequency identification) system; A metal option that uniquely identifies the chip through the RFID system without the need for internal memory; A transponder to which solid state antibodies, antigens, or other biological molecules are fixed with a phage or peptide display system; and, An electrode to deliver the electricity to the electro-chemiluminescent moiety.
Vincogen data management through RF Chip, Internet and wireless for Bio-IT network with security measurement will comply the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and Chain of Custody (COC). Other features include: Bio-MEMS (e.g. Lab-on-chip), Nano-size availability and the potential use of RF directly to detect the ligand binding to pico M (10-12 M) concentration without physically labeled Tag that is similar to Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR).
While other biochips employ radio frequency technology, Vincogen's RF ICBiochip does so in conjunction with metal options. Employing the metal option enables the chip to communicate its identity without the use of internal memory device, an innovation for which Vincogen have obtained a patent approval in Argentina and pending in other 14 countries and EU. This unique feature will comply with the HIPAA guideline in USA that concerns the privacy issue surrounding RFID chip. Also, Vincogen uses radio frequency as a power source for the chip to eliminate the role occupied by lasers in other chip systems. This innovation reduces the infrastructure expense for end-customers.
Also it appears that the special design of Vincogen's RF ICBiochip will be the only biochip to use electric current to indicate bindings during the scoring process, it is the only chip that can manifest electrochemical luminescence through wireless radio frequency. Viewing a molecule on a chip in this fashion is much easier than with laser, and therefore increases high throughput in comparison.
Vincogen uses the phage display by attaching solid-state beads to the transponder. One of the major limitations in current biochips is the difficulty of maintaining intact proteins once they are attached to biochips. Proteins are extremely delicate, and can be denatured easily. The Phage is an organism that, once fixed to the transponder, provides a stable base and unique 3-D conformation for the solid-state bio molecules. As a tertiary structure, it offers the additional benefit of allowing more of the solid-state molecules to be added, increasing their density and ability to bind with the analyte. This will result in a more stable chip and higher reliability to overcome the challenge of protein re-folding.
Vincogen presently has a prototype for the ICBiochip and will refine this chip upon the receipt of additional funding. In an effort to produce the next life-saving diagnostic or drug, both diagnostic firms and pharmaceuticals have turned to biotechnology for tools that can overcome the first hurdle in the process: detecting and profiling diseases at any stage in their development which this new and exciting RFID technology makes it possible. The ICBiochip solves all of the present day faults of biochips in the fields of reliability, unacceptable throughput rates, and high costs.
In the words of IDC analyst, Christopher Boone, RFID technology may be "the oldest new technology. " RFID will be revolutionizing not only the retail industry but also the biotechnology industry for a brighter tomorrow. Informationweek predicts the use of standard based RFID tags to grow to over 20 billion by 2008 (Fig.1). The combination of RFID technology in the biotechnology field will not only increase the integrity of the samples but enhancing drug diagnostic for the new generation.
Fig.1 Use of Standard-based RFID tags is expected to grow - (Excluding RFID BioChip)
Data: Incucomm; Informationweek Oct. 11, 2004