Texas Tech scientists seek patent on device that could make drug testing faster, less expensive

Texas Tech scientists have filed for a patent on a new device that could make some drug screening faster and less expensive.

Siva Vanapalli, an assistant professor in Tech's Department of Chemical Engineering, and his team created a device about the size of a penny that could replace the current drug screening systems.

Vanapalli's work was recently featured in the journal "Lab on a Chip."

When developing a drug, one must not only develop the drug compound, but also determine how much of the drug is needed to be effective, Vanapalli said.

"The device, which we have engineered, is essentially trying to make the process of discovery of drugs cheaper, if you like," he said. "Right now, if the pharmaceutical industry wants to identify a drug, the initial step in the process is they have to screen a library of candidate compounds. The number of compounds they need to screen can range from 100,000 or more."

Vanapalli is working with anti-bacterial chemicals, but hopes the process can be refined to aid in screening for new anti-cancer drugs.

Vanapalli's research is supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

Jodey Arrington, Tech vice chancellor for Research, Commercialization and Federal Relations, said when many people think of the commercialization of cancer treatments, they think of biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. The grant from the cancer research organization was somewhat out-of-the-box funding, he said.

"What's neat is the solutions to solving the problems with cancer, whether treatments, diagnosis or devices, it's going to take all disciplines and all sciences," Arrington said. "This is an example of a guy that's a chemical engineer working just like somebody in the biotechnology (field) to solve that problem. It's a great thing for Texas Tech. We have great medical biotechnology, and we also have great physical sciences like chemistry and engineering."

The pharmaceutical industry screens hundreds of thousands of drug candidates each year using large robots that deliver one specific concentration of the drug at a time, a time-consuming process that requires large amounts of the compound and reagents. The process is expensive not only because of the robots, but the volumes of the reagents used to screen the drug, Vanapalli explained.

This chip changes the process by allowing multiple concentrations of the drug at one time, he said. A sample about 1,000 times smaller than the amount currently used can be used, and the testing is quicker.

"The idea is if you are able to use a small-scale device, then the volume of reagents goes down enormously," Vanapalli said. "Now because the volumes you are using are so small, as compared to the existing technology, the cost of screening also goes down."

Vanapalli's lab has demonstrated testing 60 concentrations of a drug in about 10 minutes and expects to be able to improve on those numbers in future devices, according to a Tech news release.

The new device looks like a computer chip with multiple places to hold an array of droplets of a substance. A scientist can vary the presence of other materials from drop to drop, testing multiple concentrations of the drug at the same time.

When the university is successful at bringing products to the marketplace, Arrington said, it makes a difference. The public gets the benefits of the product being on the market, solutions are created for problems facing society, and jobs and revenue are produced, he said.

Putting out products also generates revenue for Tech, Arrington said. Tech takes a percentage, the inventor takes a percentage and everyone benefits because the money goes back into advancing research and discovery, he said. When a faculty member at Tech receives a patent for an invention, Tech becomes the owner of the intellectual property, he added.

"I would say when Texas Tech faculty develop technologies that improve the quality of life for our citizenry and create jobs and generate revenues, guess what, they also put Texas Tech on the map," Arrington said. "You don't think people know Google was founded by faculty there at Stanford (University), and that Gatorade was created at the University of Florida? You know what I'm saying? This is great branding, great brand-equity enhancement for the Texas Tech University System."

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