Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of California-Berkeley, and Solidus Biosciences Inc. have developed a biochip, called the MetaChip (metabolizing enzyme toxicology assay chip), which can be used to screen drug candidates which produce toxic metabolites in vivo.

The MetaChip uses a culturing method by combining enzyme catalysis with cell-based screening on a single microscale chip. The drug candidates are added to a chip containing approximately 2,000 combinations of eight enzymes used in human liver metabolism and then sandwiched with a slide of human organ cells in order to detect toxic reactions to the compound. When toxic reactions are detected, the toxic drug compounds are eliminated as potential candidates for further development as new pharmaceuticals. The researchers are also working to develop an automated MetaReader device to quickly analyze the results.

Such a diagnostic tool can significantly speed up drug development, providing a more efficient method in vitro screening for potentially toxic metabolites.

Read the article from Rensselaer, and more from Walter Derzko's blog entry in Smart Economy.

Photo Credit: RPI/Moo-Yeal Lee and Jonathan Dordick