Hu Gengxi, a scientist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has succeeded in developing a cancer-testing bio-chip system, the first of its kind in the world, according to sources from the CAS.

The new technology has been awarded the certification by the State Drug Administration and been approved with the accuracy of 80 percent via clinical examinations.

Traditional ways

At present, cancer is no longer an incurable disease along with the emerging of new ways and medicines in treatment. The latest statistics of WHO shows that the cancer can be cured should it be detected in the early stage. In the past, to examine the cancer, such means of examination were often resorted to as by way of image, X-ray, B-ultrasound and CT, which did a lot of harm to the patients and was difficult for making conclusion on the tumor.

Advantages of the bio-chip

While the biological chips, with a mass of information on it, can test many kinds of diseases in only dozens of minutes by drawing 0.5ml blood instead of several traditional analyses. Therefore it is especially useful for the early examination of cancers, such as hepatic and pulmonary cancers and other complicated diseases.

Significance

According to experts, the cancer-monitoring chip is an important breakthrough in cancer diagnosis, the first of its kind in the world and it will certainly make great contributions to the health of mankind.

Industrialization of biological chips

As reported, China has also scored achievement in the industrialization of biological chips. Currently, China has successfully exported the cancer-monitoring chips to the ROK and is in the process of negotiation for export agreement with other countries and regions including Thailand, the US and European countries as well.

( April 12, 2002)