"The ability to measure biomarkers quickly and easily in small samples is creating new opportunities in research and could make a big impact on clinical care."

Although undetectable by the naked eye, the molecular processes being carried out within cells and tissues of the human body have significant consequences for disease risk and treatment. Scientists have developed ways to infer the status of these activities by measuring specific proteins – often called biomarkers – in blood and other bodily fluids. Unfortunately, most laboratory techniques require vials of blood to obtain information about just a few of these tiny proteins – an unappealing prospect for patients and prospective research participants.

This conundrum caused considerable frustration for Dr. Terry Phillips, now a researcher at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). Phillips wanted to examine samples from newborn babies for signs of inflammation. Elevated levels of inflammatory proteins suggest the presence of disease and infection and may be indicative of future health problems. However, Phillips could obtain information about only a few proteins at a time and realized he needed a new tool. “We had to develop microsystems that could measure multiple biomarkers from which we could infer what was happening in the immune system,” he says.

For the full story, please go to:
http://www.nibib.nih.gov/HealthEdu/eAdvances/30Jan09


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