Two Pore Guys (2PG) has collaborated with oncologists of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) on liquid biopsy study with first handheld device for cancer monitoring.
The study will assess 2PG’s its handheld nanopore-based platform for detecting cell-free, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from patient liquid biopsies.
Headed by UCSF hematology/oncology professor Dr Andrew Ko, the study will be used to detect KRAS G12D mutation among ctDNAs secured from patient blood and urine samples.
If the study is productive, the new device could help to monitor patients for the recurrence of cancer from home on a daily basis.
The handheld platform features a battery-operated reader device and disposable test strips containing reagents, as well as solid-state nanopore chips that detect individual molecules one by one.
Two Pore Guys CEO Dan Heller said: “2PG’s platform is ideal for applications like liquid biopsy, because it is portable, simple and inexpensive enough to be used by anyone, anywhere.”
Dr. Ko said: “We have high hopes for liquid biopsy as an important tool in the future of cancer treatment.
“The ability to accurately monitor mutations using a simple and inexpensive device could improve the quality of care we can provide while significantly reducing healthcare costs, for example, by more quickly moving patients off expensive drugs that are no longer effective.”
For the study, 2PG will concentrate ctDNA from the patient samples by using existing extraction kits, which are being used to develop an an integrated solution.
2PG is engaged in the development of single-molecule sensing technologies, which deploy solid-state nanopores and biochemical reagents to create sample-in/results-out detection platform.