Reference: VALTEC08-1-0007
Funded by: CIDEM-Generalitat de Catalunya
Program: –
Period: 01/07/2008 – 31/06/2011
Partners: Fundación Privada Institut Català de Nanotecnologia (ICN), Fundació KIMbcn
Summary:
The goal is to develop a simple, miniaturised and low cost system for the determination of proteins, based on the use of gold nanoparticles as brand and final electrochemical detection, using bionanosensors technology. The studied protein is CA-15-3, which presence in blood is indicative of a possible breast cancer. Rapid and sensitive detection of this protein would allow early diagnosis of the disease, advancing the deadline of patient’s treatment and save lives. The main advantage of the proposed system, compared with traditional systems such as ELISA essays, lies in its speed simplicity and low cost, result of recent advances in nanoscience and nanothechnology. It will be easy to use even for inexperienced people (family doctors and even patients themselves, in the same manner as with glucose sensors), thus contributing to a breakthrough in the fight against this disease.