For cancer patients, the difference between an early or late diagnosis is often a matter of life or death. Because of this Dr. John Zhang, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is working to improve early detection of cancer through a rather simple blood test that can be potentially used in every clinic.
For cancer patients, the difference between an early or late diagnosis is often a matter of life or death. Because of this Dr. John Zhang, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is working to improve early detection of cancer through a rather simple blood test that can be potentially used in every clinic. His research combines unique, disposable microchips with a special microscope that can precisely measure tumor markers, or molecules that are over expressed in cancer cells.
Left to right: graduate student Eric Huang, Professor John Zhang, and
research associate Kaz Hoshino show the microchip used for early
cancer diagnosis.
Invasive cancers shed tumor cells into the blood. By detecting those cells at an early stage through the use of microfluidics-based devices to perform immunomagnetic assays at a nanoscale level, physicians will be able to determine a prognosis and determine the treatments that should be administered to a patient. The promise of this research has led to an R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The award, in the amount of $950,000, will fund Dr. Zhang’s research initiatives in this area over the next three years. Collaborators include Dr. Kostia Sokolov, adjunct associate professor of biomedical engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Eugene Frenkel and Dr. Jonathan Uhr, professors of internal medicine and radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The team includes BME graduate student Eric Huang and research associate Kaz Hoshino.
“Professor Zhang’s new NIH award is significant in that it enables doctors to diagnose cancer via a blood test at an earlier stage, thereby potentially increasing the cure rate,” said Nicholas A. Peppas, the Fletcher Stuckey Pratt Chair in Engineering and department chair of biomedical engineering. “This exciting research also echoes the department’s momentum in forming a broad medical consortium on early cancer diagnosis and our strong biomedical research focus of conquering cancer in Texas and the world.”
Zhang’s other early cancer detection research includes a handheld microscope enabled by laser microchip technology that could be used in low-infrastructure environments, such as those present in developing nations. Demographic data indicates that 60 percent of the 6.7 million annual global cancer mortalities and 54 percent of the 10.8 million new cancer patients occur in developing nations, where early screening tools are most often unavailable. Zhang’s handheld microscope technology has been licensed to an early stage medical devices company, to develop a minimally invasive surgical endoscope with real-time micro-imaging for breast and skin cancer.
The combination of real-time micro-imaging with novel high-through screening microchips, provides significant value in terms of reducing morbidity and mortality for patients. Early screening through these technologies allows doctors to provide a better quality of care and perform fewer surgeries, and ultimately, puts less strain on hospitals. The total cost of cancer care is reduced with more effective treatments and an expanded portfolio of innovative, live-saving biomedical products. Read more at the Austin American-Statesman.
Blood flows through a Circulating Tumor Cell
(CTC) device.
Blood then flows over a microchip,
Immunofluorescence is used to identify cells that contain tumor markers.
