30 / 84
ust imagine you have to find
a tumor cell in a milliliter of
blood. One stray cell among many
millions of healthy ones; one cell that
you have to recognize and isolate
so you can further investigate it.
Sure, there are tools out there to
help you. But now researchers are
developing a chip-sized detective that
may find the cells you’re looking for
faster and cheaper than ever before.
Moreover, this new diagnosis tool will
be much more compact than existing
tools, and much easier to use. The
secret: a smart combination of silicon
technology, lens-free microscopy, and
ultrasmall steam bubbles.
Scanning everything from
tumor cells to stem cells
The evolution in chip technology
has given us smartphones that far
outcompute the room-sized servers
of a few decades ago. In a few
seconds, e.g., anyone anywhere can
now take their smartphone, find out
who first detected the HIV virus,
and download the latest articles
on the subject. This thanks to the
enormous miniaturization of computer
processors, image sensors, memory
chips, wireless communication chips
and high-resolution screens, all
packed into an elegant and compact
‘box’, also known as your smartphone.
What would happen if we could also
apply this extreme miniaturization
of systems also on tools for medical
diagnosis? To make tools that would
allow any medical doctor to do
complicated tests on the fly, e.g.
screening blood cells in a patient’s
blood sample. Think of a cancer
specialist, who would immediately
be able to see if a patient has tumor
cells roaming in his blood, a potential
sign of metastatic cancer. Who would
check after a patient’s chemotherapy
if the number of tumor cells in the
blood has diminished and if the
treatment has to be continued or
modified. A tool also that would make
it possible to see if a patient’s blood
is contaminated by specific bacteria,
allowing to start a targeted treatment
immediately.
Such a high-throughput ‘cell sorter’
chip would not only lead to faster
diagnosis. It could also allow a very
fast way to isolate tumor cells in order
to sequence their DNA and start a
treatment based on the characteristics
of the specific tumor type. Or used
in stem cell therapy, it could be
deployed to check if a colony does not
contain any bad cells. In the process
of culturing cells, something may go
wrong, resulting in cells that may be
dangerous for patients.
So a compact, fast, and easy-to-
use cell sorter chip would open up
many possibilities for practitioners in
J
This chip can find the needle in a haystack
(and examine it)
Liesbet Lagae, Imec
30 l New-Tech Magazine Europe