Angelini strengthens its commitment to scientific research thanks to its participation in the Cochise project, developed by an international consortium with the aim of identifying an alternative biological approach to tumor therapy. Born in 2006, the Cochise project recently achieved its first important result: the development of a biosensor prototype capable of controlling the flow of two cells and trapping them in order to study their interaction and determine their effectiveness in the fight against cancer.
Cochise (Cell-On-CHIp-bioSEnsor) is an international research project aiming to the development of a new class of biosensors able to detect the interaction between single immune cells and single tumour cells. This new class of biosensors will make it possible to identify and isolate the small number of immune cells, not more than 1 in 10,000, that are actually capable of fighting the tumour ones, in order to open the road to effective and personalized treatment.
The Cochise project is presently carried out by a consortium team that sees the participation of scientific organizations from several European countries such as Italy, Germany, France, Holland and Belgium and is coordinated by Prof. Roberto Guerrieri, professor of Electronics at the Faculty of Engineering of Bologna University.
The project has a strong Italian accent: apart from the University of Bologna, partners in the consortium also include the University of Ferrara, the MindSeeds Labs, a company working in the field of biomedical devices, and Angelini, whose research facilities will be used to set up the in-vivo tumor models for biological evaluation of the bionsensor.
The first result, that is the development of the biosensor prototype, was obtained halfway through the project, which will last three years. The consortium's commitment will now be aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the bionsensor by using clinical models that predict the instrument readings on humans. Once completed, the instrument will first of all be used for the immuno treatment of tumors, but it is expected that in the future other sectors may benefit from this research. 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 or her specific situation.
The Cochise project is presently carried out by a consortium team that sees the participation of scientific organizations from several European countries such as Italy, Germany, France, Holland and Belgium and is coordinated by Prof. Roberto Guerrieri, professor of Electronics at the Faculty of Engineering of Bologna University.
The project has a strong Italian accent: apart from the University of Bologna, partners in the consortium also include the University of Ferrara, the MindSeeds Labs, a company working in the field of biomedical devices, and Angelini, whose research facilities will be used to set up the in-vivo tumor models for biological evaluation of the bionsensor.
The first result, that is the development of the biosensor prototype, was obtained halfway through the project, which will last three years. The consortium's commitment will now be aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the bionsensor by using clinical models that predict the instrument readings on humans. Once completed, the instrument will first of all be used for the immuno treatment of tumors, but it is expected that in the future other sectors may benefit from this research. 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 or her specific situation.
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