Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Better Technology For Liquid Cancer BiopsiesVidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DUl8icojego/A new “lab on a spinning disc” can detect and speed the analysis of cancer markers that will help to revolutionize both diagnosis and management of malignant disease. Bioengineers at Boston’s Mass General Hospital have developed a fully automated device named SpinEx that is capable of isolating and analyzing tiny particles in the blood known as extracellular vesicles, or EVs. These vesicles are released by tumor cells and carry molecular signals that reveal whether cancer is present and pinpoint the type and the quantity of that cancerCurrent extracellular vesicle analysis methods are slow, manual, and limited to measuring one marker at a time. SpinEx, in contrast, speeds the process by combining the multiple steps of plasma separation, EV enrichment, and protein labeling of a minuscule 150 microliters of blood onto a single spinning disc that completes the process automatically.Here is how it works.  The tiny sample