Scientists from the University of Vermont are collaborating with Creative MicroSystems Corporation (CMC) in Waitsfield, VT on the development of a new kind of microscale silicone “chip” designed specifically for cancer research.   The goal of the work is to develop miniature devices that can help cancer researchers analyze cellular movement and determine cellular level reaction to a variety of potential cancer treatments.  The collaboration is being done in the Creative MicroSystems labs and cleanroom in Waitsfield and involves personnel from the UVM Department of Pharmacology, Vermont Cancer Center and CMC staff.  Two local high school students were invited to participate in a week long Phase 1 research effort that took place last month.

With the assistance of Creative MicroSystems co-founder and Director of Technology Bill Parker, UVM Professor Alan Howe and the student interns applied CMC’s microfabrication techniques to make miniature devices that can isolate individual cancer cells and with the use of microchannels see how these cells react to different drug treatments.  The resulting knowledge will hopefully help cancer researchers understand better how to isolate tumors and prevent them metastasizing and affecting other parts of the body.

“The work we’re doing with Creative MicroSystems Corporation is aimed at making devices that will allow us to deliver different chemical treatments to different areas on a single, isolated cell,” said Alan Howe, Assistant Professor of the UVM Department of Pharmacology. “The devices are, essentially, small slabs of silicone or plastic that have channels running through them which direct the flow of streams of fluid over the cell’s surface. The channels are small – in the range of one- or two-thousandths of an inch – which allows us to split the flow up into different, distinct areas on each cell. My lab can do all of the cellular work, but the engineering, machining, and physical analysis of this type of device is well beyond what my lab is equipped to do. There’s no way we could do this type of project without Bill’s knowledge and generosity. I’m extremely grateful to him, not only for his help, but also his enthusiasm over the collaboration and the underlying work. Our initial results have been very encouraging, and I’m looking forward to working with him to refine and improve the devices, and to come up with new ones, to make some really interesting observations of cell behavior.”

“We are fortunate to have sophisticated cellular research at the University of Vermont and CMC is very pleased to be able to support their efforts with our specialized microfabrication capabilities,” said Bill Parker, co-founder of Creative MicroSystems and its Director of Technology.  Creative MicroSystems Corporation (CMC) was formerly a part of Diffraction LTD, another high tech Waitsfield company founded by Bill and Julie Parker.  Diffraction LTD was acquired by a Cincinnati firm several years ago but remains in Waitsfield and produces custom optical systems.  

“Combining the skills and knowledge of UVM scientists with those of the CMC staff is helping to make amazing things happen – it’s like watching a new building go up, everyone has a unique role that compliments the rest of the team.  There’s a lot of mystery and exploration in this kind of work - until it’s done you don’t know what the end product is going to look like.  CMC’s goal is to provide unique engineering skills at this early stage of Dr. Howe’s work and if a useful device results we plan on manufacturing it for use by cancer researchers around the world.”