I-Corps: Nanomembranes for Cancer Detection and Surveillance

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力涉及一种检测和监测癌症的新技术。被称为？液体活检?试图通过检测少量体液中的癌症生物标志物来诊断或监测癌症，可能会被污染物混淆。这个项目将检验一部小说的潜力。硅nanomembrane吗?该设备通过快速、高纯度地纯化癌症生物标志物，服务于液体活检市场。通过早期发现癌症，这项技术可能会极大地影响癌症治疗的成本。例如，在膀胱癌监测中，液体活检检测可以用简单的尿液分析取代侵入性和昂贵的膀胱镜检查。除了降低美国医疗保健成本的潜力之外，该项目预计将通过增加新的商业企业或现有纳米膜制造商的增长产生区域影响。这个I-Corps项目将研究一种新型设备的商业潜力，该设备用于从原始体液中捕获自然产生的囊泡，称为外泌体。这些囊泡被肿瘤细胞释放到体液中，因此在癌症诊断中具有巨大的潜力。目前的外泌体纯化技术是劳动密集型的，需要将外泌体与蛋白质共同纯化。我们已经发现，我们的超薄纳米多孔氮化硅（NPN）膜在简单的微流体装置中使用时，可以从生物流体中捕获和纯化大量的外泌体。我们还开发了具有光子结构的复杂纳米膜，可用于确定外泌体的分子组成。通过与潜在客户的访谈，我们将尝试确定一种能够在市场上获得早期牵引力的最小可行产品。我们还将寻求定义一个更复杂的产品概念的特征，这可能会改变癌症诊断。我们希望从这次经验中得出一个明确的价值主张，并了解我们建立一个新的商业企业所需的基础设施和伙伴关系。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project concerns a novel technology for the detection and the surveillance of cancer. Assays known as ?liquid biopsies? seek to diagnose or monitor cancer by surveying small amounts of body fluids for cancer biomarkers can be confounded by contaminants. This project will examine the potential of a novel ?silicon nanomembrane? device to serve the liquid biopsy market by purifying cancer biomarkers quickly and with high purity. By enabling cancer to be discovered early, the technology could dramatically impact the cost of cancer care. In bladder cancer surveillance for example, a liquid biopsy assay could replace invasive and expensive cystoscopy exams with simple urinalysis. In addition to its potential to lower US health care costs, the project is expected to have regional impact through the addition of a new commercial enterprise or the growth of an existing nanomembrane manufacturer. This I-Corps project will investigate the commercial potential of a novel device for the capture of naturally occurring vesicles, called exosomes, from raw body fluids. These vesicles are released by tumor cells into body fluids and thus have tremendous potential in cancer diagnostics. Current exosome purification techniques are labor intensive and co-purify exosomes with protein. We have discovered that our ultrathin nanoporous silicon nitride (NPN) membranes can capture and purify large quantities of exosomes from biofluids when used in simple microfluidic devices. We have also developed sophisticated nanomembranes featuring photonic structures that could be used to determine the molecular composition of exosomes. Through interviews with potential customers, we will attempt to identify a minimum viable product that could gain early traction in the market. We will also seek to define the features of a more sophisticated product concept that could be transformative to cancer diagnosis. We hope to emerge from the experience with a clear value proposition and an understanding of the infrastructure and partnerships we will need to make a new commercial enterprise.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.