Introduction
The COCHISE Specific Targeted Research Project addresses the IST Strategic Objective 2.5.2 on "Integrated systems for point-of-care diagnosis, monitoring, and drug delivery" of the fifth call of the thematic priority 2 on "Information Society Technologies" (IST) of the 6th Framework Programme (FP6).
Strategic objective addressed
This project will develop a novel class of biosensors able to detect single cell-to-cell interactions and will provide a tool for improved monitoring and treatment of cancer. In fact, several promising technologies for the immunotherapy of cancer are currently hampered by the need to get information about the interaction among biologically active cells, information that is currently unavailable or difficult to achieve with the existing technology. In addition, this information should be available in a cost effective way, as soon as possible and without needing a complex laboratory infrastructure. The strategic objectives achieved by this project are the following:
- Demonstration of a cell-based biosensor and its macro-to-micro interfaces allowing delivery, detection and recovery of effector and target cells without interfering with their gene expression.
- Demonstration of a new microtechnology which integrates on the same platform microfluidics, electronics, sensing and living cell management.
- Sensing of cell-to-cell interactions at single cell level, overcoming the low signal levels.
- Evaluation of this biosensor using in vitro and animal models.
In addition to the main objective of this project, other important fields will benefit from this work. As an example, several drugs are supposed to force or prevent the disruption of cells. Hence, such a technology would open up new opportunities in the field of targeted drug delivery, where each patient would receive drugs that are known to be useful for his/her specific situation. Finally, the detection of lytic phenomena provides an important marker of the presence of toxins in the environment. This is a key issue for any security agency. The dissemination will be completed by specific training of young researchers and broad dissemination to address the industrial and scientific community. This will be performed by a consortium where many partners are already involved in bilateral cooperation and have already developed a way to work together in joint projects.