Researchers at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have developed the "jaundice chip", a gene chip that could be used to:

• diagnose at least five hereditary liver diseases
• detect genetic causes of jaundice in children and adults, and
• potentially lead to personalized treatment options.

The chip uses a new technology that rapidly and accurately discloses the composition of several genes known to cause liver disease in children and adults. "The jaundice chip may also help us to discover whether subtle changes in these five genes that can cause devastating diseases in children may also modify the clinical course of other common liver diseases in adults,"said Mitchell Cohen, M.D., director of the division of gastroenterology hepatology and nutrition at Cincinnati Children's.

Using this early detection method, more invasive and costly diagnostic methods are avoided, and may help pave the way for early treatment interventions.