New device could shorten drug development
incorporating a method that details protein structure and
interactions with drugs and medical devices. The device will be
useful for the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in
laboratories where protein analysis technology is used.
Drugs target certain proteins to achieve their designed effect on the body. The pharmaceutical industry must test large numbers compounds on even larger numbers of proteins to determine what effect a substance has on the body and whether or not it is safe.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed the AMUSE (Array of Micromachined Ultra Sonic Electrospray). A device made up of a critical component of a mass spectrometer, an instrument that can detect proteins present even in ultra-small concentrations by measuring the relative masses of ionised atoms and molecules.
Mass spectrometers can provide a complete protein profile and essentially make proteomics, the study of how proteins are produced and interact within an organ, cell or tissue, possible.
But before the mass spectrometer can analyse a sample, molecules must first be converted to gas-phase charged ions through electrospray ionisation (ESI), a process that produces ions by evaporating charged droplets obtained through spraying or bubbling.
A stroboscopic image of a jet of droplets generated by AMUSE at a rate of more than a million droplets per second. An ability to produce very fine (only a few micrometers in diameter) charged droplets is critical to efficient mass spectrometric analysis.
"The device has the potential to completely change the landscape of this field," said Andrei Fedorov, an associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech who leads the project.
"You need to be able to take a blood sample, pass it through a system and figure out the complete protein profile of the human plasma. It's an extremely technology-intensive process and you need to have a technology to do this kind of testing quickly and inexpensively," Fedorov said.
AMUSE also has a "high-throughput" microarray device, meaning that it can analyse many more samples at a time than a conventional electrospray device.
AMUSE can also be manufactured more cheaply than current ESI devices. Conventional electrospray devices in mass spectrometers generally cost around $150 (€122) a piece and must be cleaned after each sample is analysed.
AMUSE could be made disposable and mass produced at a few dollars a piece, making Georgia Tech's device a key step toward more affordable mass spectrometers for clinical applications.
For example, to determine whether a patient has cancer, a small blood sample is typically frozen and sent out to a testing lab at another facility. This freezing process and trip to the lab have a significant impact, damaging the proteins and possibly giving an incomplete analysis.
In the future, with a powerful and portable mass spectrometer, it may be possible for a doctor to take a sample directly from the patient, place it in the device and receive an analysis on the spot.
