Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Sciences have developed a lab-on-a-chip device that can detect protein cancer markers in a drop of blood, working as a very early cancer-detection system. The device can detect very low concentrations of markers and is reliable, cheap and portable, making it attractive for deployment in remote areas of the world.
Early detection is of paramount importance for successful cancer treatment. Unfortunately, many cancers are detected late on, when the illness has already spread to millions of cells, because most medical devices are only able to detect tumors once they have already become macroscopic.
Things could now change thanks to the research led by Prof. Romain Quidant. He and his team developed a small, portable device that uses fluidic micro-channels to detect even the smallest concentrations of cancer markers from a single drop of blood.