Portsmouth scientists bid to develop cancer-detecting technology
It could prevent patients from having to undergo surgery in future
Experts at the University of Portsmouth are aiming to develop a technology that can detect and locate cancer in a patient’s body without them having to undergo surgery.
Researchers are conducting a study to develop tiny molecular trackers, in a bid to make the diagnosis process more efficient.
They can be injected into a patient to track and locate different types of cancer, and an instrument that can be used to detect the signal of these trackers from outside of the body.
It is hoped that if successful, the technology can be used to replace biopsies, where a small amount of tissue is surgically removed from an area where a tumour may be present.
Sometimes this procedure has to be repeated because the biopsy sample is too small to analyse, or it was taken from the wrong part of the body.
The project lead, Dr Priyanka Dey from the University of Portsmouth’s School of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences, has been named as one of five winners of the 2022 CAMS Fellowships awards in the UK.
The Fellowships offer grants worth up to ÂŁ30,000 to deliver research and innovation by developing novel technologies that support current and future industrial needs in analytical and bioanalytical sciences.
Dr Dey said:
“When I pursued research, I wanted my work to be useful for society. We have seen quite a few deaths in our extended family as a result of cancer, which was the initial motivation. It’s exciting and satisfying to work on something that could help speed up diagnosis and treatment.
"This would imply that less harsher treatments would be effective, and eventually we could hope that cancer could be kicked out from the list of top 10 causes of death.
“My overall aim with this project is to build a technology which will be able to detect cancer at an early stage. And when I say early stage, I mean when the symptoms have not yet developed but a doctor wants to screen an individual who may be at risk.”
The CAMS award will be spent on the first part of the study, which aims to develop a quicker way of analysing the presence of tiny cancer trackers in diseased organs. These trackers, made up of tiny but intelligent gold beads and molecules, are injected into a patient to identify and reach cancer cells, which in turn helps us pinpoint the cancer in the body.
To do this, the team will design a specialised Raman instrument that will identify the signal from these intelligent trackers from artificial organs. Raman spectroscopy is commonly used in chemistry to identify molecules based on their chemical make-up.
Dr Dey added:
“If we are successful in that study, we will be able to understand how the trackers reach different diseased organs.
“We can then go a step further in the future and try to detect these trackers from outside the body, which would mean that we don't need an operative procedure for cancer diagnosis.
“This work can also be extended beyond cancer to other diseases. This will improve public healthcare by providing fast diagnosis and timely treatment to patients, and as a result improve the quality of the patient’s life and reduce the financial burden on the NHS.”