A team of physicists at the University of Texas (UT) recently reported success coupling continuous wave near-infrared laser beams with crystalline magnetic carbon nanoparticles to introduce therapeutic agents into cancer cells. The study, which appears in “Nature Scientific Reports,” introduces an alternate and viable approach to cell targeting and drug delivery methods.
Product development is a time-consuming, expensive process for CLIA-IVD kit manufacturers. There are several steps involved:
- Selecting the biomarker
- Choosing the right coupling
- Selecting the right magnetic bead
You are well versed with the first two points but what is “the right bead”? Assuming you have the right biomarker and a perfect coupling, the ideal magnetic bead should have the following properties:
- High recovery/fast separation, compatible with the timing of the analyzer step. It needs to be fast enough during large-scale production processes without high bead and coupled biomarker losses.
- No aggregation problems. Beads should be easy to re-suspend. It makes no sense to separate quickly if several additional sonication steps are required, which are difficult processes to control/implement in large volumes.
- Low kit-to-kit variability. Batch aliquots (typically less than a milliliter) of production batches (liters scale) must be consistent. If not, variability causes problems when interpreting the results in the analyzer.
When a new CLIA-IVD kit is transferred from R&D to production, all the manufacturing protocols should be adapted to the new throughput and volume. Biomarker specifications, buffers and coating protocols would benefit from the cumulated experience in non-magnetic kits. Coupling an antibody to magnetic beads is quite similar to doing it in colloidal gold or latex particles. But the washing protocols using Biomagnetic Separation are something new. The use of classical (and dirty) centrifugation method makes not so much sense when we can use the magnetic properties of the beads. Similar reasoning applies to the use lateral flow filtration or other complex and time-consuming non-magnetic separation techniques.
The principle behind quadrapeutics involves four existing clinical treatments: radiotherapy, low-energy laser pulses, targeted drug delivery, and colloidal gold nanoparticles. The protocol was developed to treat chemoradiation-resistant tumors. Preclinical studies, led by Dmitri Lapotko at Rice University in Texas, recently showed a 17-fold improvement in treating aggressive, drug-resistant cancer in vivo. What’s more, the procedure specifically targeted cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed.
The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) will be holding its annual meeting this year on July 27 – July 31. The meeting will take place at McCormick Place, located on Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois. Over 20,000 laboratory medicine professionals are expected to attend, taking part in the main conference as well as the Clinical Lab Expo. Participants will include scientists and clinicians interested in the fields of clinical chemistry and the clinical laboratory sciences.
In order to efficiently utilize nanoparticles in imaging and diagnostic applications, it is critical to distinguish particles that have been internalized by their cellular target from those that have not. The ability to differentiate between the two is essential for quantification and visualization, as well as determining the efficiency of drug delivery protocols.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) will host its annual convention on June 23-36 in San Diego, California this year. The BIO International Convention is the largest biotechnology event of its kind, drawing thousands of attendees. Participants will be able to choose from hundreds of sessions regarding trends in biotechnology, policy, and innovations, as well as being granted access to the world’s largest biotechnology exhibition.
Last May I was in Shanghai, invited by Merck Millipore to contribute to the Forum they organized. SEPMAG was one of the sponsors and I was one of the speakers. In a previous post I have reviewed the talks about new trends on immunomagnetic assays, coupling of biomarkers and the use of Biomagnetic Separation in CLIA IVD-kits Manufacture.
