SCIENTISTS in the US are combining the latest research in biology and information technology to develop a futuristic "cancer chip".
The chip, on which microscopic pieces of DNA are chemically linked to a silicon disk, will be able to tell from contact with DNA in a blood sample whether someone is developing cancer.
If so, it will diagnose the precise type of tumour. With the help of a computer, appropriate treatment can be suggested.
Prof Leroy Hood, one of the world's leading gene researchers, is co ordinating the project at the University of Washington in Seattle. The project has not been publicised until now.
The professor's first target is a DNA chip to detect and analyse prostate cancer.
A prototype chip containing prostate genes has already been tested, and Prof Hood expects within a year to have enough genetic information to distinguish between slow growing tumours that require no immediate treatment and aggressive cancers for which surgery is essential.
He predicts that within 10 to 15 years a multi cancer chip, containing 150,000 different pieces of DNA, will be able to diagnose and characterise the 20 most common cancers.
The chip will recognise the distinctive pattern of genes active in each category of cancer technology based on ink jet printing is used to lay down the DNA on a silicon disk. Prof Hood says this is faster and more flexible than the technique of photolithography favoured by Affymetrix, the Californian biotechnology company that has pioneered the early development of DNA chips.
Most of the research is funded from academic sources without industrial sponsorship, but Darwin Molecular a Seattle biotechnology company, is sponsoring some of the prostate cancer work.
Last December Darwin was acquired for sterling £120 million by Chiroscience of the UK, and Prof Hood is chairman of Chiroscience's scientific advisory board.
Dr David Galas, Darwin's chief scientist, describes the cancer chip project as "a bit speculative but perfectly achievable".
Dr Galas says if the diagnostic chip can be achieved for cancer, similar chips will be possible for other complex diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. "The ability to stratify a disease into distinct types is going to have profound implications for the pharmaceutical industry," Prof Hood says.
"One will be able to develop therapeutic agents that are specific for each stratified disease type.
Looking 30 years ahead, Prof Hood foresees a chip with DNA representing all of the 100,000 human genes, which could characterise a vast range of diseases.