New Device Uses Nanotubes to Catch Cancer Cells

These posts, made of carbon nanotubes, can trap cancer cells and other tiny objects as they flow through the device. Each post is 30 microns in diameter.

A new device has the ability to revolutionize the way doctors determine if cancer has spread from its original site within a patient's body. Researchers from Harvard and MIT have designed the dime-sized device which can detect single cancer cells in a blood sample. In an attempt to capture these cells, Mehmet Toner, a biomedical engineer at Harvard, developed a device that could trap the tumor cells.  In Toner's original device, blood taken from a patient flowed past tens of thousands of tiny silicon posts coated with antibodies that stick to tumor cells, trapping any cancer cells that touch the posts.

The only problem with this device was that there was no guarantee that the cancer cells would encounter the posts in the first place.  He realized if the silicon posts were porous, the blood could flow through them instead, forcing cancer cells to come in contact with the antibodies, which is where Wardle came in.

The researchers hope that their device could eventually be developed into low-cost tests for doctors to use in developing countries where expensive diagnostic equipment is hard to come by, and they are currently working on tailoring the device for HIV diagnosis. TechNewsDaily