Digital Holographic Microscopy for Morphology-based Enrichment of Circulating Tumour Cells

在英国，癌症是第二大最常见的死亡原因，也是造成经济损失最大的死亡原因。超过90%的死亡是由于转移，即继发性肿瘤在体内形成。不幸的是，症状通常在转移后出现，到那时治疗往往无效。我们设计了一种技术，可以在继发性肿瘤形成之前，从血液样本中识别和富集超罕见肿瘤细胞。这将有助于更早、更明智地做出临床决策，并研究更有效的治疗方法。我们的新设计是可分配的和负担得起的，这样的好处将被社会的大部分人获得。

In the UK, cancer is the second most common cause of death and is the cause of death that is most costly to the economy. Over 90% of deaths follow metastasis, where secondary tumours are established in the body. Unfortunately, symptoms are usually experienced after metastasis, by which time treatments are often ineffective.We have designed a technology to identify and enrich ultra-rare tumour cells from a blood sample, before secondary tumours are established. This will enable earlier and better-informed clinical decisions, and research into more effective treatments. Our novel design is distributable and affordable such that the benefits will be accessible to a large proportion of society.