Physicists, engineers and doctors have collaborated to create a real miniature laboratory. The researchers "printed" channels size of a few tens of micrometers (millionths of a millimeter) above an array of silicon (obtained with techniques similar to those which achieves an electronic chip-based silicon). The definition of microchannels has been achieved through a technique of soft lithography, very reminiscent of the impression photographic process: the circuit is embossed on a photosensitive material made offering electrical resistance, said photoresist (which in this case is represented by silicone). The researchers have thus reproduced the system of small vessels, venules, arteriole and capillary micro circulation of human existence. According to the scientists, this device can be useful for studying the behavior of red blood cells, especially in diseases like thalassemia (Mediterranean anaemia) and diabetes, which alter the structure: "We've done it!" says Antonio Cassinese, physical center Coherentia "microfluidico" a system able to assess how deform when the red blood cells pass through microcanali and how fast they manage to flow in a network artificial similar in nature.

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