BioTEChnoLoGy 17
Biological chips could speed up
testing for serious diseases
The latest developments
in lab-on-a-chip
technology include
a breakthrough in
protein scanning,
a miniaturisation
of genetics testing
techniques and a possible
10 000-fold increase in
testing speed.
Les développements
les plus récents de la
technologie du laboratoire
sur puce portent
notamment sur une
percée dans l’exploration
des protéines, une
miniaturisation des
techniques de dépistage
en génétique et une
possible multiplication
par 10000 de la vitesse
des analyses.
P
rotein chips, also known as protein Fig. 1. Wake Forest University physics
arrays, are objects such as slides that professors (from left to right) Martin Guthold,
Zu den neuesten
have proteins attached to them and Keith Bonin and Jed Macosko work in Guthold’s
Entwicklungen in
allow important scientific data about laboratory on development of Lab-on-Bead
der „Lab-on-Chip“-
the behaviour of proteins to be gathered. processing.
Technologie gehören Functional protein arrays could give scientists
ein Durchbruch beim
the ability to run tests on tens of thousands of of Chemistry unveiled a new technique for
Scannen von Proteinen,
different proteins simultaneously, observing how producing functional protein chips in a paper
eine Miniaturisierung
they interact with cells, other proteins, DNA and in the 22nd August issue of the Journal of the
von Genetiktestmethoden
drugs. American Chemical Society.
und eine potenzielle
10.000fache Erhöhung der
As proteins can be placed and located
Testgeschwindigkeit.
precisely on a chip, it would be possible to scan
Protein chips
large numbers of them at the same time but then The Manchester team of Lu Shin Wong, Jenny
isolate the data relating to individual proteins. Thirlway and Jason Micklefield say the technical
These chips would allow large amounts of data to challenges of attaching proteins in a reliable
be generated with the minimum use of materials way have previously held back the widespread
– especially rare proteins that are only available application and development of protein chips.
in very small amounts. Existing techniques for attaching proteins
often results in them becoming fixed in random
MRSA infections
orientations, which can cause them to become
Scientists at the University of Manchester in damaged and inactive.
England have developed a new and fast method
for making such biological chips, technology that
could lead to quick testing for serious diseases,
fast detection of MRSA infections and rapid
discovery of new drugs. C
urrent methods also require proteins
to be purified first – and this means
that creating large and powerful
protein arrays would be hugely costly
Researchers working at the Manchester in terms of time, manpower and money.
Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB) and the School Now researchers at The University of
➠
www.scientistlive.com
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