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Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in liquid biopsy for breast cancer

Project description

Advancing early breast cancer detection

Breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide, despite widespread mammography screening programmes. Early detection is crucial to improving survival rates, yet current diagnostic tools often fall short in sensitivity and speed. New technologies are needed to enhance early diagnosis. Researchers are focusing on innovative biosensors that offer rapid, cost-effective, and highly sensitive detection methods. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SIREN project is developing a liquid biopsy test using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy to detect subtle molecular changes in blood plasma, serum, and urine. By integrating SERS with advanced decision-support systems, SIREN aims to deliver a highly accurate, non-invasive screening tool.

Objective

Despite current large-scale mammography screening programmes, breast cancer is still the leading cause of cancer death in women in the vast majority of countries. It is recognizable that cancer deaths could be prevented through earlier diagnosis and adequate treatment. Therefore, new vigilant diagnostic tools that could provide an earlier diagnostic should be developed. The progress regarding sensitive, robust, fast, and cost-effective biosensors is a very active research field. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy is a powerful technique for ultrasensitive label-free analysis of chemical and biological samples with wide applicability, vastly demonstrated for cancer. Nevertheless, translation of SERS to the clinics and industry is limited due to the lack of reproducible substrates and automation routines to analyze complex spectra.

Liquid biopsy is the most commonly used practice for clinical preliminary disease screening. Some groups have already shown noteworthy work addressing the potential of SERS in blood plasma and urine, making it suitable for rapid and minimally invasive cancer diagnosis. SERS can be applied to sense subtle changes in composition and structure of biomolecules in plasma/urine from cancer subjects. Allied to this, discriminant analysis models (DAM) have been applied to SERS. These studies demonstrate that a powerful diagnostic system can be built for cancer screening with very high specificity and sensitivity.The main objective of SIREN is the development of a liquid biopsy test on which highly sensitive solid SERS substrates will detect changes in biomolecular profile between cancer and no cancer samples. Blood plasma and serum, and urine will be used in a label-free detection. Combining with new developed clinical decision-support systems based on SERS spectral analysis the project will provide a classification system for early diagnosis progression and breast cancer in patients.

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01

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Coordinator

HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITAET ZU BERLIN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 173 847,36
Address
UNTER DEN LINDEN 6
10117 Berlin
Germany

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Region
Berlin Berlin Berlin
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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