BIOCHIPS INTRODUCED

Children suffering from acute leukemia do not need the help of foreign experts anymore for the diagnosis. The Research Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion of Uzbekistan have implemented diagnostics using microarray for the first time in the country.

For several years the Research Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion has been using high technology for the treatment of acute leukemia on "Moscow-Berlin" protocols. According to these standards, the purpose of treatment requires a specific identification of a gene, mutation of which led to the development of the disease. Until recently, such studies were not conducted in Uzbekistan, and the patients had to seek the help of foreign doctors, which was expensive and inconvenient, and crucially, the time required for treatment was lost.

However, the advancement in the department of Molecular Medicine and Cell Technologies of the Institute facilitated the introduction of modern techniques that allow for carrying out all the necessary tests in Tashkent. Lately, a technique using medical biochips has been implemented that several times accelerated the obtaining of necessary results.

In general, the creation of biochips in the world medicine is one of the most revolutionary technological advances of biotechnology in recent years. The biochip can, for example, simultaneously determine several thousands of pathogens, microorganisms and viruses, metabolites, allergens, oncogenes, and various biologically active substances, including those exist in ultra-low quantities and low concentrations (up to nanomolar quantum), genetic defects. At the same time for such simultaneous analysis it is enough very small amount of material, such as a drop of blood from a patient’s finger, as in usual analysis in the clinic.

Microarray (gene chip) technology enables to dramatically increase the performance of diagnostic methods 1,000-10,000 times and raises the number of simultaneous test parameters as many.

“With the introduction of our equipment for medical diagnostics with microarray (biochip) we can check some ten genes for the presence of mutations for two days. For comparison: via the equipment which we have previously used, it was required two days to test each gene,” explained Hamid Karimov, head of the Department of Molecular Medicine and Cell Technologies of the Research Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion. “This means we can quickly provide with an accurate diagnosis and prescribe the treatment. As you know, every minute is precious in such severe diseases. And crucially, all examinations are now conducted in our center.”

In the future, specialists of the Institute intend to use diagnostic technology with biochips on other diseases.

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