Abstract

Microfluidics for the Interrogation of Circulating Biomarkers in Glioblastoma Patients

Shannon Stott, Assistant Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School

Clinically, there is a dire need to diagnose and monitor brain tumor recurrence and to detect mutations in real time to guide patient treatment. A blood-based ‘liquid biopsy’ that captures and analyzes both circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and extracellular vesicles (EVs) would be an ideal approach to better predict tumor response in glioblastoma patients without the need for highly invasive brain surgery. Through these blood-on-a-chip assays, we aim to gain a better understanding of when these important tumor derived CTCs and extracellular vesicles are released and how we can exploit their molecular content to better guide patient treatment. Working in partnership with Dr. Brian Nahed at MGH, we have used our microfluidic technologies to isolate CTCs and EVs from the blood of patients with advanced glioblastoma multiforme. In this talk, data will be presented on our technological approach as well as our effort to interrogate their molecular content using next generation RNA sequencing. Through the microfluidic isolation of blood based biomarkers from patients, our goal is to obtain complementary data to the current standard of care to help better guide treatment.