From genetic testing for diagnostic purposes to protein analyses on chips, the latest tools in molecular biology and bioanalysis will be the focus of Analytica 2008, Munich 1-4 April 2008
The effect of many medications varies from case to case.
What works for one person does not necessarily work- or could even lead to serious side effects - for another.
The reason: hardly any medications take genetic differences between patients into account.
Even the slightest deviations in a patient's genetic makeup can accelerate or delay the effect of medications and how they are broken down by the body.
Molecular-biological diagnostics makes it possible to tailor therapies to patients' genetic profiles and modify medication dosages to suit their metabolisms.
It is known as personalised medicine.
Analytica 2008 will focus on innovations in analysis, laboratory technology and biotechnology including the latest bioanalysis and diagnostics procedures that make customised therapies possible in the first place.
Biochips increase therapy success.
Personalized medicine revolves around DNA chips.
Take breast cancer, for example: a microarray from Eppendorf will allow physicians to determine whether a patient should undergo radiation or chemotherapy following a lumpectomy - and which patients are considered cured and can skip this severe treatment altogether.
The breast-cancer chip has more than 200 genes that identify the type and stage of a tumour.
Biochips can also be used to improve aids therapy.
In this case, the virus's ability to change is problematic because it can make active ingredients less effective.
Biochips identify these types of resistances by analyzing the virus's genome.
Medications that would be ineffective are not even considered.
Roche also has a gene chip that makes it easier to choose the optimum medication in the right dose.
The AmpliChip CYP 450, which is already licensed for diagnostic purposes in the USA and Europe, recognises deviations in two genes that are coded for liver enzymes in the Cytochrome P450 family.
Patients with a deviation in these genes, for example, break down beta-blockers used to lower blood pressure too quickly or too slowly.
Thanks to genetic testing, physicians can adapt medication treatment to their patients' metabolisms.
Other AmpliChips are also being developed: for example, the AmpliChip p53, which detects defects in the tumour-suppressing gene p53, identifies how aggressive a tumor is, making it possible to customise the cancer therapy.
Genetic diagnostics is still reserved for specialised laboratories.
However, as Analytica 2008 will show, chip technology is getting more and more user friendly.
Detection kits with ready-to-use reagents, all-in-one concepts consisting of microarrays, hybridisation stations, scanners and analysis software as well as ongoing advancements in automation are making it easier for chip technology to be incorporated into routine clinical applications.
In an age of tight budgets in the health-care sector, costs also play a key role.
There are already systems on the market that are an attractive alternative to common fluorescence scanners with regard to price: they detect hybridisation electrochemically or by precipitating silver onto gold nanoparticles.
Identifying minor defects in our genetic makeup.
The fact that patients react differently to a given therapy despite a 99.9-percent genetic match is frequently due to single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, pronounced snips).
A SNP is a minor defect in the script of the genetic mapping.
Only a single letter, ie, a base, is interchanged.
Experts assume that there are ten million SNPs in the human genome.
In many cases, SNPs are the cause of diseases.
The NGFN (Germany's National Genome Research Network), a group of researchers in various disciplines from throughout Germany, wants to use DNA chips to examine 25,000 patients and control persons.
Scientists want to identify the genetic causes of obesity, Alzheimer's, neurodermatitis, schizophrenia, tuberculosis and many other diseases.
According to Peter Nurnberg, professor of genomics at Cologne University and coordinator of the genotyping platform at the NGFN, "We are delving into a new world of genetics that will help us to develop better treatment alternatives".
He and his colleagues will collect more than 20,000 individual samples; the chips they use have more than a half-million SNPs and other gene variations.
Large-scale projects of this type are only possible using state-of-the-art bioanalysis, molecular-biology and information-technology tools.
The latest systems - from online PCR devices and microarray scanners with integrated barcode readers to expanded bioinformatics software for analysing and storing enormous quantities of data - will be on display in hall A3 at Analytica 2008.
At the InnovationsArea in hall A3, start-ups in biotechnology, the life sciences and related disciplines will present their ideas and products that will give new impetus to the entire industry.
Cutting costs in healthcare.
Because even a perfectly functioning gene is no guarantee for a correctly functioning protein, the big question is: which genetic products, ie, which proteins actually have an effect on the cell? Besides classical analysis techniques such as electrophoresis, chromatography and mass spectrometry, protein chips are increasingly being used to find the answer.
Scientists use them to identify specific antibodies or proteins that can be used as biomarkers for more precise diagnostics.
Decoding proteins gives pharma researchers a point of departure for new active ingredients.
Biomarker tests, which filter out unsuitable active-ingredient candidates before they are tested on patients, also help companies to cut costs considerably.
Pharmaceutical companies also profit from the trend toward personalised medicine in another way: some blockbuster medications would still be on the market today if the patients who tend to have bad reactions for genetic reasons had been filtered out and treated using other alternatives.
Hans-Joachim Heusler, managing director at Munich International Trade Fairs, summed up the diverse programme of events at the upcoming 21st European trade fair for instrumental analysis, laboratory technology and biotechnology as follows: "Innovations in biotechnology, the life sciences and diagnostics are accelerating the development of custom therapies and offer a great deal of potential for cutting costs in the healthcare sector.
"Together, Analytica 2008 and the Analytica conference not only give visitors a look at the latest equipment and techniques, they also give industry representatives a forum that promotes the active exchange of information between equipment developers and users and between international cutting-edge researchers and decision-makers in the scientific and industrial sectors."
