Integrated Chip System Developed As Complete Laboratory

A device, based on chip technology, has been developed that will enable the diagnosis of eight or more different diseases on blood or cell samples.

The integrated system based on micro-technology and biotechnology, will enable a number of conditions to be diagnosed automatically in the doctor's own office. The chip looks like a credit card and contains a complete laboratory.

The chip is engraved with a number of very narrow channels that contain chemicals and enzymes in the correct proportions for each individual analysis. When the patient's sample has been drawn into the channels, these reagents are mixed. The card is then put into a machine than can read the biomarkers, such as DNA or enzymes, to produce a diagnosis. The project to develop the chip is being coordinated by SINTEF (Trondheim, Norway), the largest independent research organization in Scandinavia.

Scientists at SINTEF's micro and nanotechnology laboratory have developed a number of techniques for interpreting the results when the biomarkers have been found. For example, they can read them off in a spectrophotometer, an optical instrument in which the ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules in different markers emit specific fluorescent signals. The project has used cells taken to diagnose cervical cancer as a case study, but in principle, the chip can check out a number of different diseases caused by bacteria or viruses, as well as various types of cancer.

NorChip, (Klokkarstua, Norway), the company that had the original idea, has just started a new two-year EU project that aims to industrialize the diagnostic chip to the mass-production stage while the company will also evaluate market potential and industrial partners. Frank Karlsen, Ph.D., the Chief Scientist at NorChip, said, "The ways in which the chip can be used can be extended to enable patients themselves to take samples at home", and he expects that such special sampling systems will be ready for testing within a few years. The venture is part of the European Commission's (Brussels, Belgium) project ‘Microactive' develops 'in-office' health test system."

Related Links:
SINTEF
NorChip
European Commission