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Chinese Scientists Use Bio-Chip to Diagnose Early CancerChinese scientists have made a major breakthrough in diagnosing cancer in the early stages with the help of a bio-chip which has been developed by a Chinese research institute in northwestern Shaanxi Province.Yan Xiaojun, director of the Gene Diagnosis Technical Research Institute affiliated with the No. 4 Medical College of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, told reporters that it is more efficient and accurate to diagnose early cancer by using a bio-chip, which is the size of a match box than by using other methods. He said that at least 500 experiments are needed to diagnose early-stage cancer in the traditional way, which is time-and energy-consuming. "But by using a bio-chip, 1,000 tests can be done at the same time," Yan added. By using this high-technology method, Yan said, stomach cancer can be detected at an early stage and patients can get timely treatment. Stomach cancer is the second-biggest killer in the world, following lung cancer, and the Number One killer in China compared with other tumors. Yan is now heading a team doing research on bio-chips for diagnosing various kinds of tumors in the early stages. In addition, Yan revealed that his team is also experimenting with a bio-chip which can tell whether a three-month-old fetus is malformed or has a hereditary defect simply by testing a drop of blood from the mother's finger. The test costs only 200 yuan (about 24 US dollars), Yan said. This new method could help greatly reduce the number of births of deformed babies and improve the population, he said. Statistics indicate that of the 20 million new-born babies each year in China, deformed babies and those with hereditary diseases account for five per 10,000. Yan also disclosed that his research institute has already successfully developed eight kinds of bio-chips for diagnosing stomach diseases, hepatitis and venereal diseases. The bio-chips will be applied in clinical practice within half a year, he said. It takes only five minutes for a bio-chip to diagnose hepatitis virus, compared with two days by using the traditional test. So far, the Xi'an Genelife Technology Co. Ltd, the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the No.4 Medical College of the Chinese People's Liberation Army have jointly invested 100 million yuan ( about 12 million dollars) to develop bio-chips for medical purposes. A bio-chip industrial park is to be set up in the Xi'an High and New Technology Development Zone, said Ma Qinrong, deputy general director of the Xi'an Genelife Technology Co. Ltd.
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