New Cancer Detecting Technology

Today there are only a few tools available to detect cancerous cells in the blood, and all of them are not very accurate in detecting cancer at its earliest stage. That is due to the fact that at that point, there is a very small concentration of the cancerous cells in the blood. Because of that, we have not yet found a method that can diagnose cancer at its very early stages. This may very soon change however, because of the work of Stanford professor of materials science and of electrical engineering Shan Wang. He along with her team of researchers have created a blood scanner that uses magnetic nanotechnology to spot cancer proteins and markers in the blood stream. Wang is very excited and optimistic that the technology will someday save lives by detecting cancer early or by helping doctors select more effective therapy. "The earlier you can detect a cancer, the better chance you have to kill it," he said. "This could be especially helpful for lung cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer, because those cancers are hidden in the body."

The sensor they have developed is called the MagArray. It works by first tagging cancer proteins with tiny magnetic particles. This is instead of using electric charges or glowing particles, which is what was used previously in other detectors. The detector itself has a silicon chip with 64 sensors that moniter changes in the magnetic field, which occur when the sensors attach to the cancer related proteins floating by. This breakthrough technology is much more accurate at detecting cancer, as a matter of fact, it can detect these cancerous proteins at a level 400 times lower than a current commercial detecting kit known as ELISA. This new technology looks very promising and will be very helpful in aiding doctors and improving healthcare as far as cancer in humans is concerned.

The complete article can be found here.

Ahmed Sandakli (11)