Can gold nanostars detect the early biomarkers of cancer?

Written by The Nanomed Zone, Lucy Chard, Editor

A team of biomedical engineers from Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University (Durham, NC, USA) have developed a nanosensor in the form of gold nanostars that can detect the presence of specific microRNAs (mRNAs) in tissues, which act as biomarkers of cancer and other diseases. "The general research focus in my lab has been on the early detection of diseases in people before they even know they're sick," explained Tuan Vo-Dinh, Duke University. "And to do that, you need to be able to go upstream, at the genomic level, to look at biomarkers like microRNA." Currently, detection of biomarkers...

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