Moscow: a research team of HSE university, skoltec, MPGU and MISIS have developed a nanophotonic-microfluidic sensor whose potential applications include detecting, monitoring and evaluating treatment success. Today, the device can identify dissolved gases and liquids in low concentrations with high accuracy. appeared in the study optics paper,
According to the World Health Organization, the global cancer burden in 2020 was estimated at 19.3 million new cases and 10 million deaths. WHO experts believe that an estimated 30% of new cases are preventable, and about the same proportion can be cured with early detection.
Today, a ‘lab-on-a-chip’ is a miniature sensor device capable of performing complex biochemical analyzes that is considered one of the most promising methods for early cancer detection. Russian researchers have developed a new hybrid nanophotonic-microfluidic sensor for highly sensitive analysis of liquids and gases at very low concentrations in solutions.
HSE MIEM Professor Gregory Goltsmann says, “Our study is an important step towards creating a compact lab-on-a-chip device capable of not only performing a complete set of blood tests but also detecting cancer biomarkers at an early stage.” Is able to inject small amounts of a patient’s blood. Ideally, we aim to create a small portable device that only requires a single drop of blood. At the press of a button, the doctor will see the result, for example, that the parameters are normal Or further tests are needed.”
The current device consists of nanophotonic optical sensors on a chip in combination with microfluidic channels above the sensor surface. Liquids or gases pumped through channels affect the propagation of optical radiation in highly sensitive nanophotonic devices, thereby altering the spectral characteristics of the output. By examining these changes, researchers can determine the composition of the sample.
A special feature of the device is the small size of the microfluidic channels that deliver samples to the sensor. This makes it possible to obtain results from even very small samples, something that can be important when on-site analysis is not possible and samples must be taken elsewhere for testing.
Human blood contains certain components that may be valuable for the early diagnosis of oncology diseases. Such components include extracellular vesicles (exosomes). Exosomes are microscopic vesicles released by tissue and organ cells into the intercellular space.
Cells communicate with each other using extracellular vesicles, such as exosomes, to send messages. Dmitry GorinProfessor in Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, However, certain factors – either intrinsic (genetic predisposition) or external (environmental, such as radiation) – can disrupt a cell’s normal functioning, causing it to send the wrong message, leading to uncontrolled cell division and tumor growth. Is.
In the early stages of cancer, exosome blood concentrations increase to reach analytically significant values, indicating the presence of cancer, therefore making exosomes a potentially useful biomarker in oncology. The research team plans to further refine their device so that it can be used for this method of detecting cancer.
So far, the sensor has not been tested on blood samples, but on water solutions of isopropyl alcohol in 20 different concentrations ranging from 0.08% to 72% by weight. Since alcohol is highly soluble in water, it was possible to use much lower concentrations. For example, the sensor detected isopropanol in a solution containing 12 molecules of alcohol per million molecules of water. Currently, the device can only analyze two-component solutions, but the authors aim to make it suitable for multi-component analysis by encapsulating specialized receptors (aptamers, antibodies, DARPins, and peptides) on the sensor surface using microfluidic channels. make plans.
‘Today, the experimental equipment required for instrument operation is rather bulky. The setup consists of a peristaltic pump, a tunable laser, a photodetector, a chip and a PC to process the data’, explains the paper’s author Alexei Kuzin, an 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, surveillance and treatment response assessment’.
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