One week after I wrote about James Dou's digital microfluidics entry in the Great Canadian Innovation Competition, a parallel research program from the same University has made headlines for a lab-on-a-chip that could detect breast cancer. The chip is designed to detect spiking estrogen levels in a breast tissue sample nearly 1000 times smaller than the traditionally required biopsy sample. Estrogen is produced by the breast and elevated levels can be indicative of high risk, or incidence, of breast cancer. If the invention can be demonstrated to be reliable, on clinical trial participants, it could mean the end of costly and painful biopsies. This invention might also be used for detecting other cancers, diagnosing infertility and monitoring the progress of therapeutic drug programs.
By the way, I have to admit I was behind the times when reporting on the Innovation Contest. On October 1st , there was no information on the Nytric or Canadian Business websites about whether the contest had closed, but I've since found that University of Toronto had announced on September 22, 2009, that Dou, who is pursuing a Ph.D. at U of T, did, in fact, win the contest.
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