Targeting IPMNs for early cancer diagnostics

Gastricsin as a biomarker to classify Mucinous cystic lesions

Gastricsin is a biomarker that can be found in mucinous cysts and can help us classify mucinous vs non mucinous cysts. In an effort to maximize the utility of patient cyst fluid we developed a microvolumetric assay that uses only 5ml of fluid (less than one drop) to classify the cyst as mucinous if gastricsin is present. In conjuction with other biomarkers such as Glucose our classifier showed a similar performance to CEA which requires 100x the volume and is the current standard of classification.

 

Using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) to  improve detection of biomarkers in pancreatic cyst fluid

 

We are at the cutting edge of early detection by incorporating Raman spectroscopy to detect biomarkers in cyst fluid. This platform can detect biomarkers at picomolar (pm) concentrations so we can detect cancer at its inception.