Milan University heads EU scheme for hi- tech 'looking glass' - Italy is leading an international project aimed at creating an electronic chip able to predict the risk of developing heart disease.
''Like a hi-tech looking glass, the chip will analyse a person's genome simply, cheaply and quickly,'' said Milan University's Daniele Cusi, who is heading a team of researchers from Italy, Britain, France, Russia and Israel.
He said the device would be ''as easy to use as a routine blood test''. ''Once the risk of developing hypertension, sclerosis and related kidney problems is shown, we'll be able to choose the best drugs for each patient and the right time to start treatment,'' Cusi added.
The actual development of the chip will crown the 42-month Hypergenes Project, which is using more than 10 million euros of European Union funds.
First the researchers will examine what Cusi called ''genetic traces'' from 4,000 people, half suffering from hypertension and half not.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the prime risk factor for heart disease.
The researchers will then hunt for these so-called 'predictor' genes in 12,000 people across Europe, ''so that our results will be applicable to the European population as a whole,'' Cusi said.
Samples from people in China, India, Pakistan and North Africa will also be taken.
The Hypergenes Project involves top medical centres like the Imperial College of Medicine in London, the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and France's Institute for Medical Research.
IBM's research lab in Haifa, Israel and the Italian hi-tech firm STMicroelectronics will develop the chip once the results are in.
