Question: what is a miniaturised device?

Amelia Markey answered on 17 Jun 2011:

Good question!

It’s a bit of a jargon term really. It just means something that is miniature (very small) and device is just a little machine I guess. They can also be called microfluidic devices because they involve very small amount of fluids.

There’s a picture of mine on my profile. They are all very different as they aren’t really made by companies, just individual researchers or research groups so they are totally unique. Mine is a block of aluminium with a spiral of tubing inserted in it. In the tubing is oil and in the oil are droplets of water. In these droplets is where I will break open the cells and copy their DNA.