ETU “LETI” has developed a biochip prototype for rapid diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases
(ORDO NEWS) — A portable system with the help of special peptide molecules – aptamers – allows to detect biomarkers of myocardial infarction in the blood with high accuracy. Diagnostics is carried out within 5-10 minutes.
The results of the study are published in the journal Micromachines . Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide.
The specificity of the disease requires prompt diagnosis and medical care for patients with CVD; in these conditions, the importance of methods for the rapid and accurate detection of possible diseases increases.
“We have created a prototype of a compact biochip that can detect disease markers in biological fluids, such as blood, with high accuracy using special peptide molecules called aptamers.
The ability of these substances to detect specific diseases is determined by their chemical composition. For our biochip, we have developed and synthesized aptamers that determine some protein markers of myocardial infarction,” says Tatyana Zimina, Associate Professor of the Department of Micro- and Nanoelectronics at St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”.
A biochip is a compact device on which special microfluidic channels are deposited by photolithography, and a programmable controller is also installed. For diagnostics, a blood sample is loaded into the inlet reservoir of the biochip and flows through the channels.
If specific disease marker proteins are present in the assays, they are recognized and stopped by aptamers. Then non-informative protein fragments are removed from the system, and the concentration of proteins signaling the disease is measured using fluorescence.
“Diagnosis using a biochip takes a few minutes, which is much faster than the methods used today for testing the population. So far, our prototype defines a limited number of parameters.
However, in the future, the biochip may become multiparametric, that is, capable of identifying a whole group of protein markers for various chronic diseases and acute infections, which will make the diagnosis more accurate, detailed and informative,” adds Tatiana Zimina.
The device is the result of many years of work by LETI scientists on the development and implementation of various types of inexpensive and environmentally friendly technologies of smart and flexible electronics, as well as biomedical analysis systems , into wide medical practice .
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