Professor Chris Toumazou, CEO of DNA Electronics, believes that semiconductor technology is about to make a major impact on healthcare applications.
“I’ve always believed that if you could apply just a fraction of semiconductor technology to healthcare, you can begin to make major innovations,” said DNA Electronics founder and CEO Prof. Chris Toumazou FRS.
“Those innovations are now very near on the horizon,” said Toumazou.
The company, a spin-out from Imperial College, is developing a handheld DNA tester which could predict a patient’s possible allergic response to medication within a matter of minutes.
“What's becoming clear is that if you apply just a fraction of technology to healthcare that goes into the development of the mobile phone, for example, you can start to make major innovations,” said Toumazou.
“For example, cochlea implants can be used to replace the hearing of born-deaf children, blood glucose monitors and, most recently, our wireless Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) pressure transducer that can be permanently implanted in the heart to allow continuous blood pressure monitoring.
“All of these advances were developed from components found in standard mobile phones,” said Toumazou.
According to Toumazou, the next phase is translating research into commercial semiconductor devices.
DNA Electronics has also recently signed a non-exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Ion Torrent, the semiconductor sequencing company.
Ion Torrent has developed a semiconductor processing technology which allows chemical-based DNA sensing technology to be implemented in semiconductor devices. It has simplified the process by removing the need for using optics to translate chemical data into digital data.
“I am delighted that Ion Torrent is pioneering semiconductor sequencing, and I believe this will bring about a new semiconductor revolution in the life sciences and healthcare industries,” said Toumazou.
Ion Torrent sequencing technology is based on a well-characterised biochemical process. When a nucleotide is incorporated into a strand of DNA by a polymerase, a hydrogen ion is released as a by-product. That hydrogen ion carries a charge which our proprietary ion sensor can detect.
The result is a very small solid-state pH meter.
No further details about the agreement were disclosed.
“Semiconductor chips that can determine whether a patient can metabolise a particular drug - at the point where the drug is actually being prescribed - is a great example of disruptive medical technology,” said Toumazou.
Q5 Interview - Professor Chris Toumazou, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College
See also: IBM designs silicon-based 'DNA Transistor'