Photo by Mark Reed/Yale University
A blood test for cancer that now takes days in the lab could be turned around in 20 minutes using a new device invented by Yale scientists.
Researchers already know how to use nanowires — thousands of times thinner than a human hair — to detect antigens for prostate and breast cancer. But the tests require sophisticated lab techniques to separate the plasma from the rest of the blood.
The Yale team’s new device — which one news outlet dubbed a “Star Trek-style gadget” — acts as a filter, catching the cancer antigens while washing the rest of the blood away. That means it can use ordinary blood samples to detect the cancer biomarkers at “the concentration of a single grain of salt dissolved in a large swimming pool,” according to a press release.
Led by professors Mark Reed and Tarek Fahmy, the team predicts that doctors will be able to perform the cancer tests in their offices using handheld devices. The findings appear in the advanced online publication of Nature Nanotechnology.
