Open Competition - Biotechnology (October 2000)

The Living Chip-Automated Microarray Technology For Homogeneous And Inhomogeneous Bioassays

Sponsor: BioTrove, Inc. (formerly Advanced Instrumentation Systems)

• Project Performance Period: 4/1/2001 - 3/31/2003
• Total project (est.): $2,988,368.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,992,245.00

Antibodies produced by the immune system are useful tools for the discovery of new pharmaceuticals, but the latest analytical methods using antibodies are time consuming, expensive, and have problems that reduce the quality of the results. A faster, cheaper, and more reliable discovery method is envisioned by BioTrove, which plans to develop an automated technology platform (LivingChip{Tm}) that can perform up to 100,000 biochemical reactions in parallel using very small volumes of liquid. The system will have eight modules, the central one consisting of a stack of palm-sized plates, each containing an array of as many as 100,000 pinholes just two or three times the width of a human hair. Each pinhole in a plate mates with one in the next plate, so that the plates can be stacked to form continuous channels that form microreaction vessels. Volumes of reagents or other liquids ranging from 30 to 100 nanoliters can be selectively loaded into the channels in individual plates. When the plates are stacked, the various components mix and 100,000 individual reactions take place simultaneously. In the two-year project, BioTrove will develop a novel machining method to manufacture the plates out of various materials, such as glass and plastic, as needed for different applications. A central challenge is to fabricate the tiny pinholes with extremely tight tolerances at costs low enough to support commercial development. The other modules will include a camera for detecting fluorescent emissions from each microchannel following a chemical reaction; a liquid dispensing and handling system; an assay station where the various modules come together; temperature and humidity controls; a plate transfer system; and a data analysis system. The ATP funding is needed to help BioTrove, a small startup, develop the prototype needed to obtain private financing. If successful, the new technology could reduce the cost of screening potential new drugs by one to two orders of magnitude, while also using smaller amounts of scarce chemical resources. The system would be 40 times faster than today's best assay systems, at one-third to one-half the capital cost. The system will be made available first to drug companies and diagnostic laboratories, and then, after further cost reductions, to point-of-care facilities such as hospitals. The system also could be used for materials discovery and combinatorial chemistry.

For project information:

Dr. Colin Brenan, (617) 551-3415
colin_jh_brenan@msn.com

ATP Project Manager

Douglas Bischoff, (301) 975-8597
douglas.bischoff@nist.gov