Graphene-Based Biosensor Could Detect Cancer within Minutes One of the main reasons why treating most cancers is such a difficult task is our inability to detect its presence before it becomes widespread. If caught in early stages, many forms of the disease are often completely reversible.The new, graphene-based immunosensor could soon lead to a quantum leap in cancer diagnosis. Image credit: Alden Chadwick via flickr.com, CC BY 2.0.In order to help medical professionals combat this deadly affliction, researchers at Trinity College Dublin are currently developing a highly-efficient biosensor that could pick up even the slightest presence of cancer within the body in mere minutes.The prototype device, called Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) immunosensor, is a small strip of material based on advanced optical technology, which reacts to specific compounds (commonly referred to as �biomarkers� or �disease markers�) present in a blood sample applied to its surface. While the technology has already been proven to be capable of rapidly detecting cholera, it took graphene to also make it sensitive to cancer.�We showed experimentally that simply the addition of graphene led to a clear increase in the sensor signal,� said Dr. Georg Duesberg, a researcher involved in the study. �This type of sensing platform offers a large variety for medical diagnostics, since it can be adapted to almost any type of disease markers.�Even though the SPR sensor is not the only method scientists are currently developing for cancer screening, it might just be the most exciting one due to its accuracy and speed � while most current techniques require full vials of blood for an accurate diagnosis, the new-and-improved device could detect malignancies from just a single droplet.�Because of the sensitivity, apart from faster results, it could more easily detect smaller amounts of biomarkers, thus providing earlier diagnosis and prognosis of conditions such as cancer,� said Dr. Andreas Holzinger, another researcher involved in the study.Although the device is currently in early developmental stages and still requires a lot of further study, researchers are already hailing it as an important innovation in medical diagnoses. The sensor has yet shown its value in detecting cholera without error, and, as the authors wrote in the current study, �there is no reason why this method could not be used in any other chemistry or other toxins.�The need for further tests notwithstanding, authors of the present study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, are hopeful their novel technology will become available in the not-so-distant future.Sources: study abstract, medicaldaily.com, thelatestnews.com.