An\ninterdisciplinary research team from the University of Macau (UM) recently developed\na new screening method for cancer drugs. Using a digital microfluidic system,\nthe research team can run single cell drug screening tests\nwith a limited number of biopsy samples. As an efficient and precise method,\nthe screening process for a cancer patient can be completed within 24 hours,\nwhich can help provide timely guidance for doctors on medication prescription. The\nresearch results have been published by the authoritative international journal\nMicrosystems & Nanoengineering<\/i>\nunder Nature Publishing Group<\/i>.<\/p>
Currently,\ncancer drug screening tests usually use 96-well plates. The process requires a\nlarge number of cells and reagents, but there is usually only a limited number\nof cells available in biopsy samples. This is especially true in cancer biopsy\nsamples, because they include different cells and researchers depend on single-cell\nculture to select effective drugs with low toxicity. To address this problem,\nthe UM team developed a technique for single-cell drug screening in order to be\nprecise in cancer drug prescription. In the process, all\nthe single cells are kept in the same droplet, maintaining cell-to-cell\ncommunication and therefore reflecting the real cell response as they are in a colony.\nThe entire process can be completed within 24 hours and thus is expected to\nprovide timely guidance for doctors on medication prescription.<\/p>
The\npaper is titled \u2018A Digital Microfluidic System with\n3D Microstructures for Single-Cell Culture\u2019. UM researcher Zhai Jiao is the paper\u2019s\nfirst author and Jia Yanwei, an assistant professor in UM\u2019s State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal\nVLSI, is the corresponding author. According\nto Dr Jia, the 3D structure on the chip is realised by photolithography. This\nstructure can keep the cells in single-cell state during culture. During the\ndevelopment process, the research team used a thin film of low evaporation\ntemperature silicon oil to allow the cells to breathe and prevent the drop from\nevaporating.<\/p>
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The interdisciplinary research project was led by UM\u2019s Institute\nof Microelectronics, and jointly conducted by UM\u2019s Faculty of Health Sciences\nand Sun Yat-sen University. At the core of the project is digital microfluidic\ntechnology, which can be applied in medical diagnosis and precision medicine.\nThe research project was supported by the Macao Science and Technology\nDevelopment Fund.<\/p>
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Source: Institute of Microelectronics<\/p>
Media Contact Information: Communications Office, University of Macau<\/p>
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Albee Lei Tel\uff1a(853) 88228004Kelvin U Tel\uff1a(853) 88224322Email\uff1aprs.media@um.edu.moUM Website\uff1awww.um.edu.mo<\/p>
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An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Macau (UM) recently developed a new screening method for cancer drugs. Using a digital microfluidic system, the research team can run single…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n