Better detection is key to achieving better outcomes. We are creating nanoscale imaging agents and other sensors, and developing highly sensitive molecular and cellular detection methods using micro-electromechanical systems. These tools and devices can also be deployed to monitor tumors. By combining implantable detection technologies with telemetry, we can monitor whether a cancer is in remission or undergoing relapse. In time, such devices may incorporate micro-scale drug delivery systems that automatically release therapeutic drugs when cancer cells are detected.
Research Summary The goal of this area is to create high-tech devices for cancer detection and monitoring. Currently, the most effective treatment for cancer is surgical resection. If a tumor can be detected early, before it has undergone metastatic spread, surgeons can often remove all of the cancer cells and cure the patient. Sadly, many cancers are detected too late.
Lung cancer provides a striking case in point. The five-year survival for lung cancer patients diagnosed with localized, early-stage disease is over 50% and improving. Far more frequently diagnosed, late-stage lung cancer is successfully treated in less than 10% of patients, and this rate has barely moved in 50 years. Thus, it is extremely important to shift the curve of cancer diagnosis to earlier and earlier stages.
This effort will be greatly aided by the Koch Institute's continuing effort to build a complete picture of the genomic, proteomic, and cellular changes that accompany tumor initiation and progression. By developing new methods in molecular imaging, creating novel imaging agents and other sensors through advanced nanotechnology applications, and developing highly sensitive molecular and cellular detection methods using micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies, Koch scientists and engineers can make critical advances in cancer detection.
These same tools and devices will also be deployed to monitor the response of tumors to therapy and the disease status in patients who have previously received treatment. Indeed, by combining implantable detection technologies with telemetry, technologists will be able to continuously monitor whether a cancer remains in remission or is undergoing relapse – and to transmit this information to the patient or his/her physician. Moreover, we envision a time when such devices are integrated with implantable, micro-scale drug delivery systems such that the detection of cancer cells leads automatically to the release of the appropriate therapeutic compound.
