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Mega-Capable Microchips

August 28, 2003

"The ISTC project #2019, utilizing cutting-edge technology to create rapid diagnostic kits for multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis, has been very successful. I have been very impressed by the caliber of the Moscow Engelhardt Institute leadership and staff. And the ISTC has played a major role in the development and implementation of the biochip project. Truly, this is exciting work that has some exceptional potential benefits for Russia and the world." Dr. Robert J. Tossatto - US Department of Health and Human Services

Once thought to be defeated, tuberculosis nevertheless presents a major threat in the 21st century. Every year over 30 million people in the world get infected with TB, and the death toll amounts to 2 million annually. The problem is aggravated by the fact that today humanity has to deal with over one hundred of mutant TB strains many of which effectively resist traditional drugs. Conventional drug susceptibility tests require 2-5 weeks to specify the strain and select a proper course of treatment while the patient continues to suffer and infect other people.

Development of an efficient and low-cost biochip technology by scientists at the Engelhardt Institute for Molecular Biology became a major breakthrough in this battle against the deadly disease. In their biochip method, application of the nucleic acid of the strain being tested to a microarray of diagnostic oligonucleotides on a glass slide (the biochip) and subsequent measurement of the degree of hybridization allow to specify the strain within one or two days. This method has also proven efficient in prompt and accurate identification of orthopox viruses, including smallpox, thus giving physicians a powerful diagnostic tool should any natural or terrorist-inflicted outbreak of smallpox occur. Apart from being cost effective, the biochip technology could make clinical diagnostic tests simple enough to be widely used even in field test situations without needing highly qualified staff.

The ISTC and the US Department of Health and Human Services support two projects in Russia pioneering the use of the biochip technology. With their help, scientists at the Engelhardt Institute and VECTOR National Research Center in collaboration with US counterparts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are now working to further develop and validate microchip methods for rapid and reliable procedures for identification of TB strains, smallpox and herpes viruses. The demand for these diagnostic instruments is huge. "Russia alone needs 2 million TB strain biochips annually, to say nothing about other applications of this technology," says Dr. V. Barsky of the Engelhardt Institute Biological Microchip Center.

International Science and Technology Center (ISTC)