Carnegie Mellon University receives $1 million to create biosensor tool kit

PITTSBURGH-The W. M. Keck Foundation will give Carnegie Mellon University $1 million to begin development of a biosensor tool kit that will enable scientists to more fully understand cellular activity as it occurs in living organisms.

The tools to be developed include an array of optical probes and sensing devices that can be used to detect the different states and functions of cells, tissues or fluids.

"Our ultimate understanding of cell function requires studying the context in which cells live, divide, communicate and die," said Dr. Victor Weedn, an internationally recognized figure in forensic DNA typing who directs Carnegie Mellon's biotechnology and health initiatives. "Developing a means of learning more about the communal behavior of cells is central to advances in biological sciences. It also is essential for better understanding how tissues and organs function."

Pioneering research scientists Alan Waggoner and Ken Gabriel are also heading the project. Waggoner, director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Light Microscope Imaging and Biotechnology, holds several patents for reagents, or chemical dyes, that allow scientists to study living cells. Gabriel is a leader in the field of microelectromechanical systems and director of the university's laboratory of the same name.

The eventual results of their work will give scientists the ability to create new diagnostic tools and monitor many substances simultaneously in cells cultures, living animals and patients,. For example, by packaging the tools into a small, implantable microchip, the scientists believe it will be possible to diagnose disease at an early stage in humans.

"These tools will deepen our understanding of the processes of cell regulation and differentiation," Weedn said. "And, they will serve as a springboard to breakthroughs in fields ranging from oncology to tissue engineering."