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Lab-on-a-chip drives search for new drugs to prevent blood clots

A tiny lab the size of a postage stamp could be the next big thing in the search for safer anti-clotting drugs to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

The effectiveness of current anti-clotting medication can be limited due to the risk of complications, driving a need for alternatives that can both prevent the formation of blood clots and reduce the risk of excessive and life-threatening bleeding.

The new biocompatible lab-on-a-chip, detailed in a paper published recently in the journal Analytical Chemistry, could help accelerate the discovery and development of new anti-clotting therapies.

The technology has been developed by a team of biochemists and engineers led by RMIT University and the Haematology Micro-platforms group at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD) in Melbourne, Australia.

It effectively shrinks a medical pathology laboratory onto a small chip, with automated processes that can achieve in a few minutes what could take days in a full-sized lab.

The new device is designed specifically to work with the complex and sensitive biology of blood, featuring a unique system of micropumps and analysis tools for testing the effect of chemical compounds on how the blood clots.

Crispin Szydzik, et. al. Active Micropump-Mixer for Rapid Antiplatelet Drug Screening in Whole Blood. Analytical Chemistry, 2019; 91 (16): 10830 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b02486

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