New robot plans, conducts and draws conclusions for cancer tests

Cancer treatments could now speed up with the newly developed smart research robot, capable to plan and conduct experiments as well as draw its own conclusions from the results. The robot system was built to improve combinations of substances to kill cancer cells without causing damage to healthy cells.

Scientists say that cancer has turned almost medically exclusive to be treated by a combination of several different drugs. The new robot system was developed to handle a dozen drugs simultaneously, instead of combining substances in a process one at a time.

The robot is also capable to find optimal treatment combinations for each patient. However, the researchers say that the current version of the robot still requires few manual steps, but could soon be converted to automatic operation.

Mats Gustafsson, leader of the team and professor at the Uppsala University, said that their laboratory is now one among the few laboratories around the world with the same type of the robot system. He added that the team is planning to enhance the robot’s capability to handle around hundreds of substances.

So far, the robot has been only used to look for combinations that can kill cancer cells, and without taking into account the side effects that it can cause to the patients. The team, Gustafsson said, will conduct further tests and improvements to make the system to be more automated and smarter.

Gustafsson and his colleagues want to enhance the guiding algorithm of the robot with the advance knowledge about drug targets and disease pathways. Aside of doing combinations of substances for cancer treatments, the robot system may also aid significant development of new drug compounds that can make drug-resistant cells to be sensitive again.

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