Professor Pedro Mestres of Saarland University, Germany, has been awarded second prize in business plan contest '1,2,3, Go', for a novel drug sensitivity screening tool based on Bionas technology
Tumours react in different ways against anti-cancer drugs.
It is therefore important to determine tumor drug sensitivity in order to establish a tumor and patient-specific therapy in the clinic.
Mestres, who plans to found a company for drug screening services in early 2008, has developed a tissue slicing technology producing microtumours that retain near-original tissue structure and cell activity.
These microtumours are then analysed with the Bionas 2500 analysing system for their metabolic activity upon drug treatment.
"With the Bionas 2500 instrument we can analyse the metabolic pattern of the tissue slices in a highly precise way, "says Prof Mestres.
"This enables us to profile tissue specimens from tumour patients for optimal drug responsiveness".
The Bionas 2500 analysing system gives a complete overview of the physiological state of cells and tissues by analysing metabolic and morphological parameters over a long period.
