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MacRobert Award 2003 Winner Randox Laboratories Ltd
Innovation
The biochip (similar to a silicon chip) consists of a 1cm2 substrate on which discrete test regions have been constructed. Each test region consists of different antibodies or reactive species for each assay. The biochip carrier, a transport vehicle for biochips, is a square object with nine separate reaction wells. A biochip is secured in the base of each well and this is used as a reaction chamber for the patient sample assay. The biochip assays are based on standard immunoassay techniques. In the test panels, antibodies are attached to the biochip surface, to which any analytes in the patient sample bind. Chemiluminescence (production of light via a chemical reaction) is used to determine the level of analyte present in a sample. The light emission from the test regions is detected and quantified using a CCD (charge coupled device) camera and the image is then processed using dedicated software designed by Randox Laboratories. This fully automated analyser performs a great number and variety of diagnostic tests per patient sample simultaneously, thereby requiring fewer samples than conventional methods. It is possible to test for up to 25 different proteins on a single biochip. This gives much more information from a single sample than is currently available. This capacity also reduces the need for repeat samples from the same patient as the results of the analysis carried out. It also allows the possibility of discovering relationships between different proteins involved in disease, thus improving the accuracy of diagnosis. Commercial Applications The technology is applicable to a wide range of diagnostic parameters including thyroid hormones, fertility hormones, cancer markers, cardiac markers, allergy testing, infectious diseases, blood grouping, drugs of abuse, antibiotic drug residues and anabolic steroids. At present, more than 3500 tests per hour can be analysed on drug residues, thyroid, fertility, tumour, cardiac, allergens and others, whereas conventional methods can only perform just over 200 tests in an hour, allowing speedier processing of tests for more patients a great cost saving for both public and private healthcare facilities. This technology can also be used for drug testing of athletes, clinical trials to test the safety and side effects of new drugs and many other applications. The aim in the future is to have a personalized preventative medical system where the individuals health can be monitored to detect any early signs of disease. Randox has successfully negotiated contracts worldwide with private laboratories and public hospitals to the value of 25 million over the next three years. Evidence is already in use in China, the US, Austria, Greece and Turkey. Within five years worldwide sales are predicted to top 300 million. For further details
look at their web-site at www.randox.com
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Randox
Laboratories Ltd of Northern Ireland has
developed a fully automated diagnostic
analyser (Evidence®) using protein biochip
array technology. The finalist team is made
up of Dr Peter Fitzgerald, managing
director, John Lamont, R&D manager, and Ivan
McConnell, divisional R&D manager of biochip
research, manufacture and instrument design.
The Randox vision is to ‘develop a complete
diagnostic system that will provide more
accurate patient diagnosis and enable
selection of the most appropriate
therapeutic treatment on an individual
patient basis.’
Evidence®
enables the simultaneous detection and
quantification of multiple proteins and
other compounds associated with disease
states in clinical samples on a single
biochip. This is the first commercially
available protein biochip and assay system.
This system replaces multiple reaction wells
with a single technology platform,
individual tests with multi-test panels and
sample re-runs with a unique concept of
retrospective reporting.|
Updated July 2012 |
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