A team of researchers from HSE University, Skoltech, MPGU, and MISIS have developed a nanophotonic-microfluidic sensor whose potential applications include cancer detection, monitoring and treatment response assessment. Today, the device can identify gases and liquids dissolved at low concentrations with a high degree of accuracy. The paper is published in Optics Letters.
Today, a “lab-on-a-chip” is a miniature sensor device capable of performing complex biochemical analysis which are considered one of the most promising approaches to early cancer detection. Russian researchers have developed a new hybrid nanophotonic-microfluidic sensor for highly sensitive analysis of liquids and gases at very low concentration in solutions.
According to Gregory Goltsman, HSE MIEM Professor, the “study is an important step towards creating a compact lab-on-a-chip device capable of not only performing a whole set of blood tests but detecting cancer biomarkers at an early stage using a very small amount of the patient’s blood. Ideally, we aim to create a small portable device [that needs] just a drop of blood. By pressing a button, the doctor would see the results, e.g., that the parameters are normal or that further tests are required.”
The current device consists of nanophotonic optical sensors on a chip in combination with microfluidic channels above the sensor surface. Fluids or gases pumped through the channels affect the propagation of optical radiation in the highly sensitive nanophotonic devices, changing the output’s spectral characteristics. By examining these changes, researchers can determine the sample’s composition.
A special feature of the device is the tiny size of the microfluidic channels that deliver specimens to the sensors. This makes it possible to obtain results even from very small samples, something that can be critical when on-site analysis is not feasible and specimens must be transported elsewhere for examination.
Human blood contains certain components which can be valuable for preliminary diagnoses of oncology diseases. Such components include extracellular vesicles (exosomes). Exosomes are microscopic vesicles released into the intercellular space by tissue and organ cells.
“Cells communicate among themselves by using extracellular vesicles, such as exosomes, to send out messages,” says Dmitry Gorin, professor at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. However, certain factors—either internal (genetic predisposition) or external (environmental, such as radiation)—can disrupt a cell’s normal functioning, causing it to send the wrong messages, leading to uncontrolled cell division and tumor growth.”
At an early stage of cancer, exosome blood concentrations tend to increase to reach analytically significant values, signaling the presence of cancer, so this makes exosomes a potentially useful biomarker in oncology. The research team plan to further refine their device so that it may be used for this method of cancer detection.
So far, the sensor has been tested not on blood samples but on water solutions of isopropyl alcohol in 20 different concentrations, from 0.08% to 72% by weight. Since alcohol is highly soluble in water, it was possible to use very low concentrations. For example, the sensor detected isopropanol in a solution containing 12 molecules of alcohol per one million molecules of water. Currently, the device can analyze only two-component solutions, but the authors plan to make it suitable for multi-component analytes by covering special receptors (aptamers, antibodies, DARPins, and peptides) onto the sensor surface using microfluidic channels.
“Today, the experimental equipment needed for the device operation is rather bulky. The setup includes a peristaltic pump, a tuneable laser, a photodetector, a chip, and a PC for processing the data,” explains the paper’s author Aleksei Kuzin, HSE graduate and current doctoral student at Skoltech. “In the future, we hope to produce a compact and portable device for rapid testing that will reduce the time and cost of cancer diagnosis, monitoring and treatment response assessment.”
News
Scientists Find a Berry Compound That Helps Muscle Cells Burn Fat
Pterostilbene, a compound found naturally in some foods, affects how skeletal muscles process fats by stabilizing a protein called PPARδ and increasing its signaling activity. Pterostilbene, a natural compound found in blueberries, grapes, and [...]
Two Hidden Forces Help Build the Human Brain Before Birth
Scientists have uncovered two surprising forces that help guide how the human brain forms before birth. Before birth, the human brain is shaped in large part by an unusual class of stem cells known [...]
Researchers Uncover a Hidden Trigger Behind Chronic Inflammation
The findings offer new insights that could help guide the development of future therapies. A protein called human resistin may help flip on one of the immune system’s most powerful inflammatory switches. Researchers at [...]
Scientists Have Uncovered Previously Hidden Microbial Activity on Human Skin
The most abundant microbes on your skin may not be the ones doing most of the work. Human skin supports vast communities of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that can influence its protective barrier, immune [...]
Brazilian Tree Compounds Fight COVID-19 on Multiple Fronts
Scientists found compounds in a Brazilian tree that hit SARS-CoV-2 on multiple fronts, revealing a promising new lead in the search for COVID-19 treatments. Researchers have found that galloylquinic acids extracted from the leaves [...]
Cutting Two Amino Acids Slowed Prostate Cancer in Mice
A newly identified link between amino acid metabolism and cholesterol production may help prostate tumors adapt to hormone therapy. Prostate cancer can find ways around treatments designed to deprive tumors of the hormones they [...]
Largest-Ever Physics Survey Raises New Doubts About Our Model of the Universe
Physicists around the world remain deeply divided on key mysteries of the universe, from dark matter to quantum gravity. The standard cosmological model failed to gain majority support, and no leading theory dominated the [...]
Scientists Just Overturned a 100-Year-Old Belief About Bacteria in the Lungs
New findings raise questions about the role of microbes living in the lungs. More than 35 trillion bacteria live throughout the human body, forming microbiomes in the gut, mouth, lungs, skin, and urogenital tract. [...]
GHCE Concept
From the preface of the book Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artificial Intelligence, Edited by Frank Boehm: Since the publication of my first book (Nanomedical Device and Systems [...]
Novartis, Ionis drug failure spurs questions
Pelacarsen didn’t protect heart health despite lowering levels of a protein particle, “Lp(a),” in a large clinical trial — a result with important implications for cardiovascular drug research. Dive Brief: An RNA drug from [...]
New injectable treatment helps the brain rebuild after stroke
Biomedical engineers at Duke University have created an injectable biomaterial that may help the brain recover from damage left behind by an ischemic stroke. In experiments with mice, the material transformed the cavity created [...]
Scientists Discover a Hidden “Immune Organ” Inside the Skull
Researchers discovered lymph node-like immune hubs inside skull bone marrow that appear to act as rapid-response centers for the brain. For decades, the brain was thought to operate largely apart from the immune system. [...]
Engineered tRNAs and lipid nanoparticles target nonsense mutation cystic fibrosis
Researchers have developed a potential new approach for treating a form of cystic fibrosis caused by so-called nonsense mutations, combining chemically modified transfer RNAs with lipid nanoparticles designed to deliver the therapy directly to [...]
New pancreatic cancer drug carries a $39,800 monthly list price
A groundbreaking treatment for one of the most common forms of pancreatic cancer has been approved in pill form by the FDA. Revolution Medicines’ oral tablet daraxonrasib, branded as Rasonque, reduced the risk of [...]
Researchers Have Discovered a New Way To Reduce Chronic Nerve Pain
A cancer-linked protein called BRAF may help drive chronic nerve pain, and existing cancer drugs targeting it reduced pain sensitivity in preclinical models. Chronic nerve pain can persist long after an injury and often [...]
Our books now available worldwide!
Online Sellers other than Amazon, Routledge, and IOPP Indigo Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artifcial Intelligence Global Health Care Equivalency In The Age Of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine And Artificial [...]
