Achievement

Cancer diagnosis using nanotechnology: Non-invasive and early diagnosis of cancer is one of the strategies that have been adopted to combat this deadly disease. Towards this end, two projects are currently being carried out in the IGERT Nanomedicine Science and Technology program. Agnes Rafalko (IGERT Trainee) is working on studying changes in glycosylation its relation to cancer diagnosis. Using gold nanoparticles as the imaging entity, lectin binding to glycan and its subsequent changes to it will be studied. In another project, Brian Plouffe (IGERT trainee) is developing a point-of-care disposable microfluidic device for efficient and rapid isolation of rare circulating tumor cells. Results from these projects will lead to discovery of new targets for further basic and clinical research.