top of page

Israel: Cutting-edge biochip identifies most effective cancer treatment

Writer's picture: Caroline HaïatCaroline Haïat

The Israeli startup Pre-Cure, founded in 2022, has significantly transformed cancer treatment with its innovative "Tumor-on-a-Chip" platform. Next-generation 3D biochips have been designed to quickly determine the most effective treatment and dosage for patients with tumors in less than ten days. By using a biopsy sample, Pre-Cure primarily targets patients with gastrointestinal, gynecological, head, and neck cancers. It helps oncologists select the most effective treatment right from the early stages of the disease, thus improving the chances of recovery.


Pre-Cure was launched following extensive research conducted in the Tumor Microenvironment and Nanomedicine Laboratory, led by Professor Ofra Benny at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The model, developed by Eliana Steinberg, belongs to the field of microfluidics – an area of research that combines engineering, physics, chemistry, microtechnology, and biotechnology, and deals with the behavior and control of liquids at microscopic dimensions, on the micron scale.


Steinberg joined Benny's lab in October 2018, about a year after the lab began developing an organ-on-a-chip, and contributed significantly to the advancement of the research.


The Pre-Cure microchip is manufactured using a one-step process with 3D printing technology for the production of microfluidic biochips designed for drug screening tests. This approach preserves tumor samples from biopsies while enabling testing of multiple drug administration scenarios.

Chip
Chip

The principle is simple. A small piece of tissue, just a few millimeters in size, is taken from the tumor and broken down in the lab into hundreds of individual cells. Hundreds of "models" of the original tissue are reconstructed from these cells, which contain both the cancer cells and the surrounding tissue. The regenerated tissue spheroids are then inserted into a chip, inside which there are several channels, each delivering a different drug to the tissues.


The Pre-Cure platform was tested in a retrospective study in collaboration with the Hadassah Ein Kerem Oncology Center on over 30 patients. It shows excellent results and a strong correlation with clinical outcomes.



Pre-Cure has filed a patent related to the manufacturing and design of technical materials that offer a distinct technology for creating chips with complex functionalities, which were previously impossible or extremely difficult to produce using existing manufacturing methods.


The biochips have even reached space! Spheroids developed in the International Space Station laboratory were launched as part of a SpacePharma project to test the effect of the drug Doxil on cancer cells in microgravity. A very promising future for the young startup.


Caroline Haïat



0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page