Abstract

Using Microfluidics for Non-Invasive Cancer Diagnosis

Lorena Dieguez, Staff Researcher, INL

Microfluidics presents numerous advantages for the handling of biological samples, as it provides careful control of fluids in the microscale. When it comes to biomarkers enrichment, microfluidics has demonstrated superior sensitivity and enhanced recovery compared to traditional methods. Incorporating sensors, lab-on-a-chip technologies offer efficient characterization of disease biomarkers from body fluids, making microfluidics ideal for clinical practice, enabling high throughput, portability, and automation. Early dissemination of cancer is difficult to detect by traditional imaging and pathological methods. While the presence of cancer material in body fluids is well known, current techniques for the isolation, analysis and characterization of these biomarkers are not efficient enough to be fully applied in clinical routine. In this talk, we present our work for isolation and multiplex analysis of cancer biomarkers from body fluids based on microfluidics, and biosensors towards personalized medicine and earlier diagnosis of cancer.