Lab on a Chip: the Future for Drug Discovery
August 14, 2017 | GRIFFITH UNIVERSITYEstimated reading time: 1 minute
![](https://iconnect007.com/application/files/9916/3123/7480/Lab_Chip.jpg)
A leading micro and nano technologist has revealed a new way to drug screen, saving the health system money and time.
With the lab-to-market timeframe of a new drug being up to 20 years, Dr Say Hwa Tan of Griffith University’s Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre hopes his new technology and methods will slash that period to a few years.
Dr Tan, an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, works with “lab on a chip” technology, developing miniscule and intricate ways for lab work to be conducted on a small chip. These chips are about the size of a $2 coin.
Because current screening techniques are time consuming and expensive, Dr Tan is working with the Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery (GRIDD) to develop a novel microfluidic platform to address this problem.
The platform uses pico-liter droplets instead of a microliter size, meaning much lesser drug compounds are needed. The chips also provides automation which means that researchers can drug screen much faster.
It is estimated throughput will be 10,000 times higher and 1000 times lower in cost than the conventional plate-based testing methods in a lab.
Dr Tan said on demand microfluidic screening also meant researchers would reduce the waste of drug reagents.
“Biological materials such as protein are first encapsulated in these droplets and then screened for suitability by adding different natural drug candidates,” he said.
“Drug discovery is an extremely lucrative multi-billion industry which is also the strategic focus of many nations and companies.
“There’s a demand for this kind of technology and we hope with this particular process we can actually get a matter of a few years from discovery of a new compound to pushing it into the market which will ultimately produce savings.”
The success of this initial work has been published on the front cover of ACS Analytical Chemistry, an American Chemical Society journal.
Further works are in progress to unveil the full capabilities of this new method. The researchers are currently applying the concept to miniaturise and automate various conventional lab tasks.
Suggested Items
RTX's Raytheon to Design Landsat Next Space Instruments
06/14/2024 | RTXRaytheon, an RTX business, was awarded a $506 million contract from NASA to design and build the Landsat Next Instrument Suite (LandIS), which includes three next generation space instruments, with an option for an additional instrument.
Off Like a Rocket: A Review of the EIPC Summer Conference, Part 1
06/14/2024 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007Motorway traffic jams, airport car parking, walking for miles, queuing for security, delayed flights—oh, the joys of travelling. I was quickly reminded of my status as a foreigner while waiting patiently in line for a half-hour at passport control to enter the European Union at Amsterdam Schiphol, having flown all the way from London Luton in the United Kingdom, that great distance of 200 miles.
Multicircuits Adds Two More atg Flying Probe Test Systems
06/14/2024 | atg Luther & Maelzer GmbHatg Luther & Maelzer GmbH and IEC USA confirm the order for high-speed bare board testing technology.
Technology Days 2024 at Rehm: #opentochange
06/14/2024 | Rehm Thermal Systems“The only constant is change” – this is particularly true in electronics manufacturing. In an industry that is constantly evolving and changing, it is crucial to be open to change.
Siemens Collaborates with Samsung Foundry to Expand 3D-IC Enablement Tools
06/14/2024 | SiemensSiemens Digital Industries Software today announced that, in collaboration with Samsung Foundry, they have developed compelling new capabilities for the manufacture of multi-die packaged designs at advanced nodes and achieved a host of new product certifications for many of Siemens’ industry-leading IC design and verification technologies.