New device promises expedited results for detecting liver toxicity

Researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, A*STAR Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Singapore, and the Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Texas, are developing a new medical device to test liver toxicity that can provide results in 30 minutes, according to a press release.

The release stated the researchers are currently working on a prototype that miniaturizes a test lab into the size of a needle, which will provide instant results on the health of a liver. “The ‘lab-in-a-needle’ test kit has two key components: a microfluidic chip that extracts and cleans the required test sample from the blood, while the second chip runs the various tests on the purified blood sample,” according to the release.

“What our prototype shows is that samples can be prepared and analyzed through it, eliminating the need for wet laboratory work and manpower,” Joseph Chang, PhD, director of VIRTUS Centre of Excellence in Integrated Circuit Design at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said in the release. “Our new method significantly reduces time, manpower and costs and yet has the same accurate results as the gold standards of current liver toxicity tests.”

Joseph Chang

Current tests can be time consuming and take several days. The new kit, which can take patient samples, prepare them for testing, evaluate toxicity and display the results in one simple process, displays results in 30 minutes and allows doctors to immediately discuss treatment options with patients, according to the release.

“We used the concept of lab on a chip, which compresses the entire function of a laboratory diagnostic test onto a tiny microfluidics chip, to create a lab in a needle,” Stephen T.C. Wong, PhD, chair of the department of systems medicine and bioengineering at Houston Methodist Research Institute, said in the release.

Researchers from A*STAR Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology will now begin the manufacturing process to develop the device cost-effectively so it can be scaled up for mass production, according to the release.

“This will enable the mobile technology to be expanded to test for a number of health conditions in outpatient settings or outside hospitals,” according to the release.

Disclosures: The study was funded by Nanyang Technological University, A*STAR Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology and the Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute. Healio.com/Hepatology was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures of Chang and Wong at the time of publication.