What can\u2019t graphene do? You can scratch \u201cdetect cancer\u201d off of that list.
\nBy interfacing brain cells onto graphene, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have shown they can differentiate a single hyperactive cancerous cell from a normal cell, pointing the way to developing a simple, non-invasive tool for early cancer diagnosis.
\n\u201cThis graphene system is able to detect the level of activity of an interfaced cell,\u201d says Vikas Berry, associate professor and head of chemical engineering at UIC, who led the research along with Ankit Mehta, assistant professor of clinical neurosurgery in the UIC College of Medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cGraphene is the thinnest known material and is very sensitive to whatever happens on its surface,\u201d Berry said. The nanomaterial is composed of a single layer of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal chicken-wire pattern, and all the atoms share a cloud of electrons moving freely about the surface.
\n\u201cThe cell\u2019s interface with graphene rearranges the charge distribution in graphene, which modifies the energy of atomic vibration as detected by Raman spectroscopy,\u201d Berry said, referring to a powerful workhorse technique that is routinely used to study graphene.
\nThe atomic vibration energy in graphene\u2019s crystal lattice differs depending on whether it\u2019s in contact with a cancer cell or a normal cell, Berry said, because the cancer cell\u2019s hyperactivity leads to a higher negative charge on its surface and the release of more protons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe electric field around the cell pushes away electrons in graphene\u2019s electron cloud,\u201d he said, which changes the vibration energy of the carbon atoms. The change in vibration energy can be pinpointed by Raman mapping with a resolution of 300 nanometers, he said, allowing characterization of the activity of a single cell.<\/p>\n
The study looked at cultured human brain cells, comparing normal astrocytes to their cancerous counterpart, the highly malignant brain tumour glioblastoma multiforme. The technique is now being studied in a mouse model of cancer, with results that are \u201cvery promising,\u201d Berry said. Experiments with patient biopsies would be further down the road.
\n\u201cOnce a patient has brain tumour surgery, we could use this technique to see if the tumour relapses,\u201d Berry said. \u201cFor this, we would need a cell sample we could interface with graphene and look to see if cancer cells are still present.\u201d
\nThe same technique may also work to differentiate between other types of cells or the activity of cells.<\/p>\n
University of Illinois at Chicago\nnews.uic.edu\/first-use-of-graphene-to-detect-cancer-cells<\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What can\u2019t graphene do? You can scratch \u201cdetect cancer\u201d off of that list. By interfacing brain cells onto graphene, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have shown they can differentiate a single hyperactive cancerous cell from a normal cell, pointing the way to developing a simple, non-invasive tool for early cancer diagnosis. \u201cThis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-e-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}