ACuRay™ chip, a new technology for cancer screening
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have launched ACuRayTM (which stands for ACoustic micro-arRay) a acoustic sensor that can detect, treat and monitor cancer in patients. It can report the presence of small amounts of mesothelin, a molecule associated with a number of cancers including mesothelioma, as they attach to the sensor's surface. The findings of the research were reported at the American Association for Cancer Research’s second International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development. A series of electrodes deposited on the surface of a thin film of zinc oxide of the array allows the device to resonate, or vibrate, at a specific frequency when a current is applied. The Georgia Tech researchers coated the zinc oxide surface with mesothelin-specific antibodies in order to turn the array into a sensor. The sensor itself is built on a base of silicon, like a computer chip. To turn this array into a sensor, the zinc oxide surface is coated with mesothelin-specific antibodies for mesothelin cell-surface protein. The technology has the potential of detecting biomarkers in even lower concentrations.
The added mass changes the frequency according to the acoustic wave that passes between the electrodes on the surface of the device when, the mesothelin binds to an antibody. Due to nanomolar concentrations of mesothelin binding to antibodies on the chip, the device will allow "hear" the pitch change.
Doctors can use an array of sensors from ACuRayTM to detect or monitor the signs of cancer before choosing more expensive or invasive diagnostic techniques.
