The National Council on Science and Technology announced that a group of young Mexican researchers has developed a low-cost technology that detects tumor cells in a blood sample.
Alejandro Abarca, who led a multidisciplinary team of young researchers from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, said a chip, called the Semka chip, tracks and detects tumor cells in blood collected by a puncture of a vein to withdraw blood.
The 26 year old researcher said “The device analyzes the cells’ electrical properties and determines which ones are the tumor cells and which ones are the healthy cells. Once they’ve been tracked down, we separate them out and make sure they’re really tumorous.”
This development will permit the monitoring of a cancer patient’s progress on an ongoing basis.
Abarca said, “This technology will make it possible to advise physicians, pathologists and oncologists on the course of a treatment that will ensure the patient’s maximum probability of survival.”
The researcher noted that some tumor cells that have become separated from the tumor circulate in the blood and “the interesting thing is that they contain all the information needed to develop a completely effective course of treatment.”
(from México Star)
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