AI Summary
The UPV/EHU's Microfluidics Cluster group has developed a bioelectronic device with gold electrodes coated with a smart polymer to capture and release cancer cells in a non-invasive manner. They aim to create universal platforms for early cancer screening by concentrating cancer cells. Traditional methods of collecting these cells are laborious and damage the cells, so the group combined smart materials with bioelectronics to measure the capture and release processes. The detailed procedure has been described in the book "Microfluidic Systems for Cancer Diagnosis".
In the book entitled Microfluidic Systems for Cancer Diagnosis, the UPV/EHU’s Microfluidics Cluster group describes the process for building a bioelectronic device consisting of gold electrodes coated with a smart polymer capable of capturing and releasing cells in a non-invasive, controllable way while monitoring the processes using conventional electrical measurements. These are the first steps towards developing universal platforms for early cancer screening.
Metastasis is the leading cause of death in cancer, occurring when a cell leaves the primary tumour, passes into the bloodstream and lymphatic system and reaches distant organs. Non-invasive collection of these circulating tumour cells is essential for the study of cell biology, the diagnosis and prognosis in cancer research, and drug development. As a general rule, the concentration of cancer cells found in blood is very small with respect to other cell types, and traditional methods of collecting them in a viable way are laborious.
We wanted to come up with a device capable of concentrating cancer cells in order to detect their concentration.”
Janire Sáez, Ikerbasque research professor in the UPV/EHU’s Microfluidics Cluster Group
The biosensors (devices for measuring biological or chemical parameters containing a component of a biological nature) developed so far for this purpose damage cells during the capture and release processes, and so the Microfluidics Cluster group has combined smart materials with the area of bioelectronics (which is about applying carbon-based semiconductors) so that the capture and release of cancer cells can be measured.
The procedure has been detailed