The development of biochip technology initially benefited from the nucleic acid hybridization theory put forward by edwin mellor southern, that is, the labeled nucleic acid molecules can hybridize with the solidified complementary nucleic acid molecules. From this perspective, Southern hybridization can be regarded as the embryonic form of biochip. Frederick sanger and walter gilbert invented the widely used DNA sequencing method and won the Nobel Prize with 1980. Another Nobel Prize winner, Kary Mullis, first invented PCR in 1983, and then a series of studies based on it enabled a small amount of DNA to be amplified and detected by experimental methods.
The word biochip was first put forward in the early 1980s, when it mainly referred to molecular electronic devices. It is a high-tech developed rapidly in the field of life science. It mainly refers to the construction of a micro biochemical analysis system on the surface of a solid chip through micromachining technology and microelectronics technology, so as to realize accurate, rapid and informative detection of biological components such as cells, protein and DNA. Carter, a researcher in the US Navy Laboratory, tried to assemble organic functional molecules or bioactive molecules, and wanted to build micro-functional units to realize the functions of information acquisition, storage, processing and transmission. It was used to develop bionic information processing systems and biological computers, thus producing "molecular electronics". At the same time, some important progress has been made: molecular switches, molecular memory devices, molecular wires, molecular neurons and other molecular devices. What attracts the scientific community's attention is the establishment of a laboratory model based on molecular computing such as DNA or protein.
In 1990s, the development of Human Genome Project (HGP) and related disciplines of molecular biology also provided favorable conditions for the emergence and development of gene chip technology. At the same time, another kind of "biochip" has attracted people's attention. Biomolecular microarrays made on silicon wafer, glass, gel or nylon membrane by robot automatic printing or photoconductive chemical synthesis technology can realize accurate, rapid and informative screening or detection of compounds, protein, nucleic acids, cells or other biological components.
● 199 1 year, semiconductor experts and molecular biology experts organized by Affymatrix Company in Fodor developed a photoconductive synthetic peptide by photolithography;
● 1992, the DNA chip prepared by in-situ synthesis was reported for the first time by using semiconductor photosensitive plate technology, which is the first gene chip in the world;
● 1993 designed oligonucleotide biochip;
● 1994 proposed a photoconductive oligonucleotide chip for rapid DNA sequence analysis;
● 1996, the world's first commercial biochip was created by flexible use of multidisciplinary technologies such as lithography, computer, semiconductor, laser scanning, oligonucleotide synthesis and fluorescent probe hybridization.
1995, the first gene microarray chip with glass as carrier was invented by P. Brown Laboratory of Stanford University.
● In 20065438+0, the world biochip market has reached $654.38+0.7 billion, and the world drug market with biochips participating in pharmacological genetics and pharmacogenomics research is about $654.38+0.8 billion every year;
During the five years from 2000 to 2004, the market sales of applied biochips reached about $20 billion.
In 2005, the sales of chips used for genome research in the United States alone reached $5 billion, and it is likely to rise to $40 billion in 20 10. This does not include gene chips used in the fields of disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and some of them are expected to consume hundreds of times more than genome research. Therefore, the gene chip and related products industry will replace the microelectronic chip industry and become the largest industry in 2 1 century.
In March 2004, yost Sullivan (Frost &; Sulivan) published the global chip market analysis report "Strategic analysis of the world DNA chip market". The report shows that the global DNA biochip market is growing at an average annual rate of 6.7%, with a total market value of $596 million in 2003 and $9.37 billion in 20 10. NanoMarkets, a research company, predicts that medical technology based on nano-instruments will reach $654.38+0.3 billion in 2009 and will increase to $25 billion in 2065.438+02, among which the lab-on-a-chip has the most development potential and the fastest market growth.
● 201212 In February, three American scientists obtained the patents of quantum-level neurodynamics computing chips granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (US PTO). This chip is powerful and can solve problems through high-speed non-standard operation simulation, which will greatly promote the development of quantum computing in the future. This computer chip is a combination of biological process and physical process. By imitating biological systems, synaptic neurons are used for connection and feedback learning at the interface, which has the potential to give computers super computing power and super speed, and can be widely used in military and civilian fields. This patent involves several different methods of producing this computer chip.