Magnetic Tumor Marker Detector Simplifies the Detection Process

Mar-25-14 A new method of detecting tumor markers tunes out the 'noise' of proteins that can cause false positives and makes it possible to diagnose the tumor in one step.

Tumors can be identified by an increased concentration of highly specialized proteins in the blood, but blood is full of a variety of proteins, and detecting specific ones can be very difficult. Usually, doctors must first purify the blood using a series of steps and then isolate the biomarker from all the other molecules.

To simplify the process, a team from the Fraunhofer Institute added magnetic, antibody-coated nanoparticles to a blood sample. The nanoparticles attached to the specific protein marker, and can be easily separated from the whole blood sample with a magnet. A second group of antibodies bound to fluorescent markers was also added to the sample, which attach to the specific proteins and cause them to glow faintly. That glow is then amplified by applying an alternating magnetic field to the sample, which causes the magnetic particles to join together and synchronize their light emission.

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[MEDGADGET.COM]
[FRAUNHOFER]

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