Judging by the rapid advancement of technology nowadays, it's no surprise that medicine is one of the fields that has benefited the most from innovation in technique and equipment. If only a few years ago, many medical devices might have seemed ripped from a science fiction novel, today, everything appears to be possible, even a microchip that can detect cancer.

 

Related to this issue, there is a project on a roll, SMART-BIOMEMS (Development of an integrated MEMS based DNA analysis chip with Active Flow Control Components), developing a microchip that can do DNA analysis for clinical applications such as detecting signs of cancer in the blood. This way, from a regular DNA analysis, not only the elevated costs could be eliminated, but also the possibility of human error.

 

“What we are developing here is a comparatively inexpensive, easy-to-use and portable point-of-care system that will have very real clinical benefits. As there are biochemical reactions occurring on the device, it has to be set up with specific reagents and biological protocols appropriate to the task at hand, and we chose cancer for the initial testing because it is such an important field,” project coordinator Gianluca Vezzani said.

 

The efficiency of this new technology will be tested in comparison to conventional DNA procedure. “The idea is to detect cancer at a very early stage, before it has a chance to spread, because we know that specific mutations in specific genes are likely to be the cause of potential tumors. The doctor can take samples on the spot, feed them into the device and get a diagnosis in a short time span,” Venzzani stated.

 

As promising as it may sound, there will be no certainty about the efficiency and accuracy of this microchip until March 2009, when the research is programmed to come to an end, and the final results to be made public. But if the prototype passes all tests, there will be another medical gadget out there, making sure that we get to live longer and healthier.