Intel & Stanford Develops Silicon Microarray Chip Capable of Producing Clinical Pathology Laboratory Test

Researchers at Stanford University and Intel Develop Silicon Microarray Chip Capable of Producing Clinical Pathology Laboratory Test Results in Minutes.

At the heart of a new point-of-care technology is a prototype silicon chip that contains up to 9,000 peptides and allows real-time analysis in just minutes.

Researchers say this technology can significantly reduce the time-to-answer when compared to existing clinical laboratory testing technologies.

This new prototype silicon chip is an on silico peptide microarray. It could help researchers better understand how proteins interact in the body. In turn, that will lead to improved diagnoses of numerous diseases. 

The new point-of-care diagnostic technology was developed jointly by scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine and Intel Corp.  This research team designed a prototype chip to identify proteins associated with severe forms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Intel took the same type of silicon chips normally used in computer microprocessors to create the roughly 9,000-peptide prototype, according to the Stanford website. The Stanford researchers then used the chip to simultaneously analyze thousands of protein interactions.

 

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and Intel Corporation have developed a silicon-based chip to diagnose disease and analyze protein interactions. Using photolithography, the Intel team synthesized peptides directly onto silicon wafers. The Stanford researchers then used the chip to identify patients with a severe form of systemic lupus erythematosus. The technology can be used to develop point-of-care clinical laboratory tests. (Photo by Intel Corporation.)

The researchers successfully identified SLE patients who expressed high levels of antibodies against a particular histone called 2Bm.

New Microarray Promises Quicker Diagnosis and Personalized Therapies

Madoo Varma, Director of Research at Intel’s Integrated Biosystems Group.

“This technology has the potential to transform the diagnostics field by allowing for real-time electronic measurements and computations, which are not possible with current approaches,” wrote Madoo Varma, Ph.D. in an Intel Labs blog post.

The new approach promises quicker diagnosis and more accurate, personalized therapies. “When I see patients in the clinic right now, I may know they have arthritis,” stated Paul J. Utz, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine. “But I don’t know which of the 20 or 30 types of the disease they have.”

Utz is a co-senior author of the research. He pointed out that, using existing methodologies and medical laboratory tests, it can take days or even weeks to answer such questions, the Stanford website noted. 

“If we could couple these Intel arrays with an electronic detection method… we could have real-time sensing over a period of minutes,” he declared.

New Array Has Multiple Advantages Over Existing Testing Platforms

With some further refinements, the more versatile silicon arrays could offer numerous advantages over existing methods. For example, they could circumvent the problems associated with non-specific binding, common to immunoassays. It is less sticky than glass.This allows researchers to save space by arranging peptides closer together. Further, it does not fluoresce, which enables easier signal detection.

The researchers had previously experimented with a fluorescence-based proteomic platform. However, this required synthesizing the peptides separately and then spotting them onto the substrate. Utz and his colleagues had the idea of using photolithography to generate peptide arrays directly on the silicon chip, thus saving time.

Another advantage is that the peptide chip could enable large-scale proteomics studies. This could mean a leap forward in personalized medicine and drug development.

Silicon Array Platform Could Revolutionize Clinical Proteomics

The collaborators eventually hope to embed integrated semiconductor circuitry within the microprocessor- ready silicon chip, directly underneath each peptide. The resulting device would remove much guesswork and decision-making out of many clinical processes.

“By combining emerging nonfluorescence-based detection methods with an underlying integrated circuit, we are now poised to create a truly transformative proteomics platform with applications in bioscience, drug development, and clinical diagnostics,” the study authors wrote in their abstract.

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