Partnership to Develop Microchip for Diagnosing Metastatic Cells

The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University of Albany (Albany, NY, USA) and Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University (Bronx, NY, USA) will collaborate on a U.S.$2 million grant from the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop a next-generation microchip that, when placed in a cancerous mass, gathers information on the presence of metastatic cells that would demand more aggressive cancer therapy.

Scientists at the CNSE, led by Dr. James Castracane, professor and head of the nanobioscience constellation, will join Albert Einstein colleagues to study tumor "microenvironments.” Tumors interact with surrounding tissues, cells, and chemicals in ways that all too often encourage cancer cells to invade other areas of the body in the process known as metastasis.

"The NCI has placed a very high priority on understanding the ‘dialogue' in tumor microenvironments that appears crucial for causing cancers to spread,” said Dr. John Condeelis, co-chair of anatomy and structural biology at Albert Einstein College.

Using a multiphoton confocal microscope, Dr. Condeelis was able to directly observe cellular interactions in the tumor microenvironment of live animal models of breast cancer. By placing an artificial blood vessel near tumors, he collected motile cancer cells to study and to predict--by the presence or absence of certain signaling molecules--whether the tumor cells had the potential to metastasize.

The Einstein and Albany scientists will use nanotechnology, which involves studying and working with material on the molecular level, to design a "microchip” version of the artificial blood vessel that Dr. Condeelis has used successfully in animals.

The microchip will be assembled from nanoscale components so that several different functions can be carried out within a very small package. The goal: to implant these tiny microchips--just two to three cells in diameter and a tenth of a millimeter in length--in human tumors, where they would remain for days or weeks. The chips would report remotely to scanners that would "read” them on the nature of the cells that infiltrate them--in particular, on whether metastatic cells are present that would require aggressive cancer therapy.



Related Links:
University of Albany
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University