Early diagnosis of many diseases, such as cancer, significantly improves their prognoses, directly impacting patient survival. Early diagnosis relies on successfully detecting the presence of biomarker molecules, which are often difficult to quantify (due to their low concentration) and represent a time-consuming process. Several technology platforms have been emerging as promising tools for high-throughput analysis of biomarkers. However, few have translated into clinical practice due to two major limitations: i) insufficient sensitivity for multiplexing and ii) weak signal-to-noise ratio, both contributing to Limits of Quantitation above the clinically useful values. 3D NW-platforms can greatly impact disease diagnosis and precision medicine thanks to their high surface-area-to-footprint ratio and optical waveguiding properties. However, the challenge is to cost-effectively produce NWs in a reproducible manner at large scale, for them to become commercially viable.
At Aligned Bio, we are developing the most advanced and customizable NW sensors for use in assay platforms, enabling reproducible results, a 20-times increase in sensitivity over results of current biomarker detection assays, and at a cost that makes mass-scale production feasible. Whereas standards biomarker assays rely on flat surface for detection, 3D NW platforms present a high surface-area-to-footprint ratio effectively increasing the available sensing area thus the number of biomarkers immobilized on the platform. In addition, NWs show a critical optical waveguidance effect, which enables the generation, and subsequent detection, of a signal more than an order of magnitude higher than the one generated by planar platforms. Leveraging on Aligned Bio proprietary NW production technology (Aerotaxy™) and alignment method, we will allow, for the first time, the use of NW for biosensing purposes, and thus the next generation 3D NW platforms to become commercially viable.
