China has established its first tumor gene chip research center for clinical treatment and chip development in the port city of Tianjin in north China.

The Taiji Tumor Gene Chip Research Center, affiliated to the Tianjin Medical University, concentrates on the origins of tumors and their changing genetic patterns during growth.

The center is expected to apply to clinical diagnosis such Chinese patent products as gene chips for forecasting the transference of breast cancer and chips for testing tumor drug resistance.

Experts say that gene chip technology is of vital importance in the early diagnosis of tumors and their treatment.

Attached to such a thing as a silicon chip, a micro-probe consisting of thousands of gene fragments can perform immediate tests of thousands of genes. Integrating molecular biology, cytogenetics and bio-chemistry, bio-chip technology is regarded as one of the greatest inventions in the research of gene functions. It is far superior to molecular biological technology in terms of speed and accuracy.

The research center is based at the Tianjin Tumor Hospital, and its staff hope to cooperate with foreign counterparts.

(Xinhua News Agency 10/07/2001)