{"62615":{"#nid":"62615","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Biosensing Technology Coud Facilitate Personalized Medicine","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe multi-welled microplate, long a standard tool in biomedical research\n and diagnostic laboratories, could become a thing of the past thanks to\n new electronic biosensing technology developed by a team of \nmicroelectronics engineers and biomedical scientists at the Georgia \nInstitute of Technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEssentially arrays of tiny test tubes, microplates have been used for \ndecades to simultaneously test multiple samples for their responses to \nchemicals, living organisms or antibodies.  Fluorescence or color \nchanges in labels associated with compounds on the plates can signal the\n presence of particular proteins or gene sequences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers hope to replace these microplates with modern \nmicroelectronics technology, including disposable arrays containing \nthousands of electronic sensors connected to powerful signal processing \ncircuitry.  If they\u0027re successful, this new electronic biosensing \nplatform could help realize the dream of personalized medicine by making\n possible real-time disease diagnosis -- potentially in a physician\u0027s \noffice -- and by helping select individualized therapeutic approaches.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022This technology could help facilitate a new era of personalized \nmedicine,\u0022 said John McDonald, chief research scientist at the Ovarian \nCancer Institute in Atlanta and a professor in the Georgia Tech School \nof Biology.  \u0022A device like this could quickly detect in individuals the\n gene mutations that are indicative of cancer and then determine what \nwould be the optimal treatment.  There are a lot of potential \napplications for this that cannot be done with current analytical and \ndiagnostic technology.\u0022\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFundamental to the new biosensing system is the ability to \nelectronically detect markers that differentiate between healthy and \ndiseased cells.  These markers could be differences in proteins, \nmutations in DNA or even specific levels of ions that exist at different\n amounts in cancer cells.  Researchers are finding more and more \ndifferences like these that could be exploited to create fast and \ninexpensive electronic detection techniques that don\u0027t rely on \nconventional labels.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022We have put together several novel pieces of nanoelectronics technology\n to create a method for doing things in a very different way than what \nwe have been doing,\u0022 said Muhannad Bakir, an associate professor in \nGeorgia Tech\u0027s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  \u0022What we \nare creating is a new general-purpose sensing platform that takes \nadvantage of the best of nanoelectronics and three-dimensional \nelectronic system integration to modernize and add new applications to \nthe old microplate application.  This is a marriage of electronics and \nmolecular biology.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe three-dimensional sensor arrays are fabricated using conventional\n low-cost, top-down microelectronics technology.  Though existing sample\n preparation and loading systems may have to be modified, the new \nbiosensor arrays should be compatible with existing work flows in \nresearch and diagnostic labs.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022We want to make these devices simple to manufacture by taking \nadvantage of all the advances made in microelectronics, while at the \nsame time not significantly changing usability for the clinician or \nresearcher,\u0022 said Ramasamy Ravindran, a graduate research assistant in\n Georgia Tech\u0027s Nanotechnology Research Center and the School of \nElectrical and Computer Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA key advantage of the platform is that sensing will be done using \nlow-cost, disposable components, while information processing will be \ndone by reusable conventional integrated circuits connected temporarily \nto the array.  Ultra-high density spring-like mechanically compliant \nconnectors and advanced \u0022through-silicon vias\u0022 will make the electrical \nconnections while allowing technicians to replace the biosensor arrays \nwithout damaging the underlying circuitry.  \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESeparating the sensing and processing portions allows fabrication to be \noptimized for each type of device, notes Hyung Suk Yang, a graduate \nresearch assistant also working in the Nanotechnology Research Center.  \nWithout the separation, the types of materials and processes that can be\n used to fabricate the sensors are severely limited.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe sensitivity of the tiny electronic sensors can often be greater than\n current systems, potentially allowing diseases to be detected earlier. \n Because the sample wells will be substantially smaller than those of \ncurrent microplates -- allowing a smaller form factor -- they could \npermit more testing to be done with a given sample volume.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\nThe technology could also facilitate use of ligand-based sensing that\n recognizes specific genetic sequences in DNA or messenger RNA.  \u0022This \nwould very quickly give us an indication of the proteins that are being \nexpressed by that patient, which gives us knowledge of the disease state\n at the point-of-care,\u0022 explained Ken Scarberry, a postdoctoral fellow \nin McDonald\u0027s lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo far, the researchers have demonstrated a biosensing system with \nsilicon nanowire sensors in a 16-well device built on a one-centimeter \nby one-centimeter chip.  The nanowires, just 50 by 70 nanometers, \ndifferentiated between ovarian cancer cells and healthy ovarian \nepithelial cells at a variety of cell densities.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSilicon nanowire sensor technology can be used to simultaneously detect \nlarge numbers of different cells and biomaterials without labels.   \nBeyond that versatile technology, the biosensing platform could \naccommodate a broad range of other sensors -- including technologies \nthat may not exist yet.  Ultimately, hundreds of thousands of different \nsensors could be included on each chip, enough to rapidly detect markers\n for a broad range of diseases.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022Our platform idea is really sensor agnostic,\u0022 said Ravindran.  \u0022It \ncould be used with a lot of different sensors that people are \ndeveloping.  It would give us an opportunity to bring together a lot of \ndifferent kinds of sensors in a single chip.\u0022\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGenetic mutations can lead to a large number of different disease states\n that can affect a patient\u0027s response to disease or medication, but \ncurrent labeled sensing methods are limited in their ability to detect \nlarge numbers of different markers simultaneously.  \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMapping single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), variations that account \nfor approximately 90 percent of human genetic variation, could be used \nto determine a patient\u0027s propensity for a disease, or their likelihood \nof benefitting from a particular intervention.  The new biosensing \ntechnology could enable caregivers to produce and analyze SNP maps at \nthe point-of-care. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThough many technical challenges remain, the ability to screen for \nthousands of disease markers in real-time has biomedical scientists like\n McDonald excited.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022With enough sensors in there, you could theoretically put all possible \ncombinations on the array,\u0022 he said.  \u0022This has not been considered \npossible until now because making an array large enough to detect them \nall with current technology is probably not feasible.  But with \nmicroelectronics technology, you can easily include all the possible \ncombinations, and that changes things.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPapers describing the biosensing device were presented at the Electronic\n Components and Technology Conference and the International Interconnect\n Technology conference in June 2010.  The research has been supported in\n part by the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), \nGeorgia Tech\u0027s Integrative BioSystems Institute (IBSI) and the \nSemiconductor Research Corporation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe multi-welled microplate, long a standard tool in biomedical research\n and diagnostic laboratories, could become a thing of the past thanks to\n new electronic biosensing technology developed by a team of \nmicroelectronics engineers and biomedical scientists at the Georgia \nInstitute of Technology.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new electronic biosensing technology developed by Georgia Tech microelectronics engineers and biomedical scientists could usher in a new era of personalized medicine."}],"uid":"27241","created_gmt":"2010-11-08 16:37:53","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:42","author":"Jackie Nemeth","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-11-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-11-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"61056":{"id":"61056","type":"image","title":"Comparing old and new microplates","body":null,"created":"1449176308","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:58:28","changed":"1475894531","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:11","alt":"Comparing old and new microplates","file":{"fid":"191268","name":"teb94763.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/teb94763_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/teb94763_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1422856,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/teb94763_0.jpg?itok=d-o8ode1"}},"61057":{"id":"61057","type":"image","title":"Comparing old and new microplates","body":null,"created":"1449176308","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:58:28","changed":"1475894531","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:11","alt":"Comparing old and new microplates","file":{"fid":"191269","name":"tqo94763.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tqo94763_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tqo94763_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":867486,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tqo94763_0.jpg?itok=TqqCosQx"}}},"media_ids":["61056","61057"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.nrc.gatech.edu\/","title":"Nanotechnology Research Center"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.biology.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Biology"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech"},{"url":"http:\/\/ovariancancerinstitute.org\/","title":"Ovarian Cancer Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1255","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"2784","name":"Nanotechnology Research Center"},{"id":"11201","name":"Ovarian Cancer Research Institute"},{"id":"166855","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404.894.6986\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["john.toon@innovate.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}