Scientists in Germany have developed a new 3D chip for the rapid and cheap assessment of potential anticancer drugs. 

Andrea Robitzki and colleagues at the University of Leipzig have made a chip for the ultrafast characterisation of both 3D tissue samples, and for screening compounds to assess their anticancer activity.  

3D multicellular cultures are commonly used to mimic in vivo conditions in tumours, as single cell assays do not give sufficiently realistic responses to anticancer.  However, to date screening devices for these 3D cultures are not advanced enough to become commercially available.  'The advantage of this novel chip is the microcavity structure keeps the tissue samples in culture and in a viable state for real time measurements of cellular changes,' explains Robitzki. 

The technique used in the chip is impedance spectroscopy: a current is applied to the biological sample which then flows through to a counter electrode beneath. By measuring the electrical responses different cellular processes can be analysed under normal conditions or after applying drugs, toxins or other active compounds. 'This approach is a novel innovation for drug screening and for producing cost-effective pharmaceutical products and therapeutical concepts in a short time frame,' says Robitzki.   

'The results show a relevant technology that will be appealing to industry and academics alike,' comments Jon Cooper, a bioengineer at the University of Glasgow, UK. 'One could easily imagine it being implemented in a high throughput format appropriate for the pharmaceutical industry,' he adds.        

Sarah Dixon