Molecular imprint polymer for urine biomarker isolation

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Early detection of cancer saves lives. This project is related to a patients screening technology for cancers at very early stages using the quantification of an exogenous metabolite in urine. BioMark Technologies Inc. developed this technology based on the fact that increased the increased acetylation of an exogenous compound amantadine to acetylamantadine (AcAm) is strongly correlated to the up-regulation of the enzyme spermine/spermidine N-acetyltransferase (SSAT1), which is correlated to several types of cancers. The currently available analytical methods for the quantification of AcAm are laborious and costly, and efforts to reduce the cost with the direct use of Raman spectrometry have proven difficult because of the contamination of matrix material on the probes. In this project we propose to use molecular imprint polymer (MIP) to clean up the sample and enrich the target analyte AcAm, so that both the time and the cost required for the quantitative analysis can be significantly reduced to make this technology readily available in all clinical labs. The developed technology can be readily transferred to BioMark Technologies Inc., and will be of direct benefit to the Canadian economy and the health and well-being of Canadians.