Biochips for better cancer therapy

Cancer is the second leading cause of disease-related death in the United States, and may overtake heart disease without aggressive new therapies. One promising area of cancer treatment is photodynamic therapy (PDT), which combines the agents of a photosensitive drug, light, and oxygen to attack cancerous tumors and lesions locally in the targeted region of the body by selective optical illumination.

Research being conducted by Prof. Euisik Yoon’s group aims to dramatically accelerate progress in PDT. And it is being accomplished through a lab-on-a-chip measuring about the size of a quarter. At the heart of this biochip is a 5x5mm testing area that will test the interaction of the drug, light, and oxygen simultaneously, generating results in a fraction of the time of current testing practices.

“In cancer research doctors are always looking for better drugs,” explained Dr. Xia Lou, a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Yoon’s group. “But there has…