Academia Sinica researchers have developed a biomolecular analysis device they say can detect tumors, neurodegenerative diseases and mental illnesses at early stages through disease biomarkers in very low concentrations.
A team led by Chou Chia-fu (周家復) on Wednesday unveiled the multifunctional biodetection system at a Ministry of Science and Technology news conference, displaying biosensors made with nano-constriction devices — “molecular traps” and “molecular dams” — which they said could manipulate and concentrate target DNA and proteins to enable analysis even with very low concentrations of molecules.
The electrochemical-based device can accelerate molecular concentration by using an electric field, Chou said.
Photo: Wu Po-wei, Taipei Times
“The system can detect biomarkers of prostate cancer, or prostate-specific antigen [PSA], in very low concentrations — as low as one-thousandth of the PSA concentration regarded as an indicator of the disease — in 30 seconds,” he said.
It takes about 90 minutes to run a PSA test with devices currently on the market, Chou said.
The ability to detect biomarkers in very low concentrations can be used to detect diseases at a very early stage, giving patients a better chance of survival and recovery, he said.
The system is also able to detect biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and neuropeptides related to stress and depression, as well as those associated with alertness, somberness and appetite, he said, adding that the analysis takes less than five minutes.
“That means the system can detect potential depression disorders even without patients showing the symptoms. Analysis of depression-related neuropeptides has the potential to be used in evaluating the physical and mental status of pilots to avoid accidents like the Germanwings crash last year [in which the copilot deliberately crashed the plane],” he said.
Early detection, especially of tumors and neurodegenerative diseases, has been a major goal in the field of healthcare research, as cancer has been the leading cause of death in Taiwan and Alzheimer’s disease is of growing concern to the aging population, the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Chien Chung-liang (錢宗良) said.
“However, it is extremely difficult to detect those diseases at early stages when the number of disease biomarkers are low. Chou and his team developed an interdisciplinary solution by utilizing nanotechnology used in the semiconductor industry to create nano-biomolecular sensors that can detect target molecules faster than all existing devices in the world, which is a great achievement,” Chien said.
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