Cancer therapies have proliferated over the past few decades, improving outcomes for many patients. But this variety requires accurate diagnostics and appropriate decision making to choose the optimal course of therapy. The current gold standard of identifying which cancer mutation is present is new generation sequencing (NGS), which provides a com (Read more...)
Tag: Oncology
Alpha TAU Killing Tumors With Highly Targeted Alpha Radiation
Radiation is commonly employed in hospitals around the world to treat tumors, typically using gamma ray beams of high energy photons, with a relatively long range, that penetrate all the tissues on the way to and from the tumor. This leads to substantial damage to healthy tissues and too often results in poor outcomes. An […]
Raman-Based Urine Sensor Detects Cancer Metabolites
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) creaetd a Raman-spectroscopy-based urine test that can detect metabolic compounds that are produced by pancreatic and prostate cancers, potentially allowing for rapid and convenient cancer screening. The technology consists of a paper strip onto which a urine sample can be added. The pa (Read more...)
Personalized CAR-T Cell Therapy
Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a new method to prepare chimeric antigen receptor-T cells (CAR-T cells) for leukemia patients that could result in more effective treatment. CAR-T cells start life as T cells that are isolated from cancer patients, are stimulated and primed to recognize an (Read more...)
Nanowire Assay Detects Brain Tumors from Urine
Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have developed a nanowire assay that can be used to capture and detect specific extracellular vesicles in a urine sample that indicate the presence of a brain tumor. These extracellular vesicles are naturally excreted in the urine but techniques to capture and analyze them have been complex, requiring diffe (Read more...)
Point-Of-Care Biosensor to Detect Oral Cancer
Researchers at the University of Florida have created a point-of-care biosensor that can rapidly detect a biomarker for oral cancer. The device uses test strips, such as those used in blood glucose tests, to spot cell proliferation regulating inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (CIP2A), a protein biomarker that can reveal the presence of oral cance (Read more...)
Extra Hot Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy
Researchers at Oregon State University created a new type of hyperthermic magnetic nanoparticle that is intended to assist in destroying tumors through localized heating under an alternating magnetic field. Previous iterations of such technologies could heat up to about 44 degrees Celsius (111 F), which was only effective in easy-to-access tumors t (Read more...)
Making Tumors Tastier for the Immune System
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a nanotechnology platform that can make cancer cells more vulnerable to immune attack in the body. The researchers call their system the bispecific tumor-transforming nanoconjugate (BiTN) platform. The idea is to make solid tumors more appealing for the immune system by (Read more...)
Improved Membrane Coating for Anti-Cancer Nanoparticles
Scientists at the University of Eastern Finland have developed a technique that lets them improve the coating of nanoparticles when using cell membranes. Cell membranes offer a lot of benefits as a coating for synthetic nanoparticles, including shielding from the immune system, prolonged circulation times and improved tumor accumulation. However, c (Read more...)
Magnetic Bacteria Target Tumors
Scientists at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have unveiled a technique that weaponizes bacterial cells against tumors. The approach involves using bacteria called Magnetospirillum that are naturally magnetic by virtue of the iron oxide particles they contain. The researchers use a rotating magnetic field applied at the tumor location from outside the bo (Read more...)
AI-Enhanced Prostate Cancer Treatment: Interview with Brittany Berry-Pusey, Co-Founder and COO at Avenda Health
Avenda Health, a medtech company based in Santa Monica, California has developed the FocalPoint ablation system, an AI-powered prostate cancer therapy. The system is designed to provide localized prostate cancer treatment and its AI system equips clinicians with a map of a patient’s cancer, along with treatment simulations to help them chose (Read more...)
3D Bioprinted Breast Tumors for Immunotherapy Testing
A team of scientists at Penn State has bioprinted breast tumor mimics with significant complexity, including a form of vascularization and the ability to precisely place cells in certain locations within the construct. The scientists used a technique called aspiration-assisted bioprinting to achieve this. With many anti-cancer therapies failing at (Read more...)
Fluorescence Imaging System Illuminates Tumor Depth
Medical researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a fluorescence imaging technique that allows them to illuminate a tumor in situ and calculate its depth below the surface of the body. The technique could assist surgeons in accurately removing a tumor and successfully excising an appropriate margin of healt (Read more...)
Nanorattles for Rapid Detection of Multiple mRNA Cancer Biomarkers
Scientists at Duke University have developed a ‘nanorattle’ system that allows for the detection of mRNA biomarkers of cancer. The tiny structures consist of gold nanospheres with a surrounding silver nanocage, forming the so-called rattle. The nanorattles are also loaded with light scattering dyes called Raman reporters. When illuminat (Read more...)
Microfluidic Device Mimics Embryonic Heartbeat to Stimulate Stem Cell Development
Scientists at the University of New South Wales in Australia have developed a method to produce human blood stem cell precursors from human pluripotent stem cells. The method may have use in treating cancer patients who require high doses of such blood stem cells to help replenish endogenous populations that have been destroyed by chemotherapy. [&h (Read more...)
Mining Ultrasound Data to Improve Liver Diagnostics: Interview with Beth Rogozinski, CEO at Oncoustics
Oncoustics, a medtech company based in Ontario, Canada, developed the OnX Liver Assessment Solution, an AI-powered ultrasound-based diagnostic system for liver disease. At present, detecting liver disease is a challenge, potentially involving high-end imaging systems, specialists, and invasive biopsies. These challenges, and the related expense, ca (Read more...)
Bacterial Microrobots Deliver Drug Payload to Tumors
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany have developed tumor-targeting microrobots using bacteria. The team exploited the tendency of bacteria to naturally gravitate towards areas of low oxygen and low ph, which both tend to occur in the vicinity of a tumor. Once near the tumor, the bacteria aggravate the immune [& (Read more...)
Surgical Dressing Helps Kill Melanoma, Regenerate Healthy Cells
Scientists at the University of Nottingham in the UK have created a surgical dressing that is specifically designed to facilitate and enhance photothermal therapy following melanoma resection. The dressing allows for near-infrared photothermal therapy that lasts just 15 seconds every 48 hours. The concept involves killing any remaining melanoma cel (Read more...)
Spinning Disc Separates Circulating Tumor Cells from Blood
A team of researchers at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology in Korea created a centrifugal system to separate circulating tumor cells from blood samples. Resembling a DVD, the device separates the cells using the centrifugal force created when it is spun. A layer of white blood cells and circulating tumor cells is formed [&hellip (Read more...)
Automated Wearable Breast Ultrasound System: Interview with Maryam Ziaei, CEO of iSono Health
iSono Health, a medtech company based in San Francisco, has created the ATUSA System, a wearable 3D ultrasound breast scanning system. The device is worn on the breast, and does not rely on operator experience or skill to obtain consistent, high quality breast scans. As the scanning takes place automatically, it can be used by […]