A new device created by a Harvard bioengineer and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) aeronautical engineer, both in the United States, can detect single cancer cells in a blood sample, which could allow doctors to quickly determine if cancer has spread from its original site. The new microfluidic device, studded with carbon nanotubes, is able to collect cancer cells eight times better than the original version developed by Mehmet Toner, a professor of biomedical engineering at Harvard, four years ago. Toner worked with Brian Wardle, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, to develop the new microfluidic device that uses various geometries of carbon nanotube forests. The device, which can be customized by attaching different antibodies to the surface of the nanotubes, will capture the target cells or particles as blood flows through it. Toner said the device, which is about the size of a dime, could eventually be used by doctors in developing countries as a low-cost diagnostic test. The researchers are beginning work to tailor the device for use in HIV diagnosis. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/catching-cancer-0328.html