Monday, September 25, 2000
New medical marvels: tiny chips, sensors
Conference looks at current, future devices that revolutionize health care
By Tim Bonfield
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLUMBUS — “Smart” scalpels that can check individual cells for signs of cancer. Plastic chips no bigger than a postage stamp that can analyze 96 blood samples at once.
Until now, such advanced technology might have seemed possible only on Star Trek.
But on Sunday, more than 350 researchers from around the world gathered in downtown Columbus to discuss how these and many other breakthroughs in ultra-tiny medical devices are being achieved right now.
Experts predict that bio-
MEMS (biomedical microelectromechanical systems) will transform diagnosis and treatment of diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes to urinary incontinence.
Public health officials could get quick field tests to analyze flu strains and e.coli outbreaks. Troops could get new tools to detect biochemical attacks.
“We have an extraordinary opportunity to really change the way medicine is practiced and introduce truly revolutionary changes,” said Dr. Mauro Ferrari, director of the Biomedical Engineering Center at Ohio State University.
Some of these advances in nanotechnology have reached the market, including a hand-held device that can analyze diabetic blood test strips. Others may still be 10 years from the average doctor's office.
On Sunday, scientists began a three-day conference called BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology World 2000 to discuss the many challenges involved in moving super-small medicine from prototype to mass production.
Beyond the pure scientific interest, the Columbus conference reflected the grow ing emphasis in Ohio on biomedical technology as a key element of long-term economic development.
This month, the Ohio Board of Regents proposed investing more than $300 million of a $6 billion budget for higher education into biotechnology and nanotechnology.
Meanwhile, Ohio State University and several part ner organizations expect a $20 million "Ohio MicroMD” research facility to be ready by spring for use by scientists statewide.
Among the technologies featured at the conference:
• The Lilliput Chip, made by a German company to be a disposable “lab on a chip.” This postage-stamp size device features 96 tiny wells and connecting channels built into a clear slice of high-tech plastic.
Such a device can be used to test whether the bacteria infecting a patient's blood are resistant to common antibiotics — only with faster results, much smaller tissue samples and less work for the lab.
• A biocavity laser, developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories, that can be used as a “smart scalpel.” The device, roughly the size of a dime, uses a laser to tell whether individual human cells have cancer or not. Used during surgery, the laser device would help doctors spot and remove hard-to-see cancerous tissue while avoiding damage to normal cells.
• Within two to five years, biosensors thinner than a human hair will be ready to be mounted under the skin to continuously track blood sugar without the need for test strips, said Dr. Adam Heller, a researcher with the University of Texas Department of Engineering.
Within 10 years, researchers hope to connect those biosensors to tiny drug delivery devices capable of releasing stored insulin without the need for shots, Dr. Heller said.
• At Ohio State University, doctors seeking to improve cardiac bypass care are studying ways to use robotic surgery to implant biochips that can stimulate blood vessel growth.
• At the University of Cincinnati, researchers with the College of Engineering, led by Dr. Chong Ahn, are using a $3 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to work on new designs for plastic biochips that can pump fluids without using any moving parts.
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