This detailed volume explores recent developments in microfluidics technologies for cancer diagnosis and monitoring. The book is divided into two sections that delve into techniques for liquid biopsy for cancer diagnosis and platforms for precision oncology or personalized medicine in order to create effective patient avatars for testing anti-cancer drugs. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step and readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Microfluidic Systems for Cancer Diagnosis serves as an ideal guide that will be helpful to either replicate the construction of microfluidic devices specifically developed for cancer diagnosis or to catalyze development of new and better cancer diagnostic devices.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the development and application of microfluidics and biosensors in cancer research, in particular, their applications in cancer modeling and theranostics. Over the last decades, considerable effort has been made to develop new technologies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Microfluidics has proven to be a powerful tool for manipulating biological fluids with high precision and efficiency and has already been adopted by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. With recent technological advances, particularly biosensors, microfluidic devices have increased their usefulness and importance in oncology and cancer research. The aim of this book is to bring together in a single volume all the knowledge and expertise required for the development and application of microfluidic systems and biosensors in cancer modeling and theranostics. It begins with a detailed introduction to the fundamental aspects of tumor biology, cancer biomarkers, biosensors and microfluidics. With this knowledge in mind, the following sections highlight important advances in developing and applying biosensors and microfluidic devices in cancer research at universities and in the industry. Strategies for identifying and evaluating potent disease biomarkers and developing biosensors and microfluidic devices for their detection are discussed in detail. Finally, the transfer of these technologies into the clinical environment for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients will be highlighted. By combining the recent advances made in the development and application of microfluidics and biosensors in cancer research in academia and clinics, this book will be useful literature for readers from a variety of backgrounds. It offers new visions of how this technology can influence daily life in hospitals and companies, improving research methodologies and the prognosis of cancer patients.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in noncommunicable diseases coming right after cardiovascular diseases. Early diagnosis is a key for improving survival expectancy and treatment outcomes as cancer in early stage is more responsive to treatment. Currently, center of diseases control and prevention (CDC) recommend regular screening for cervical, breast and colorectal cancers. Although other screening procedures are available for prostate, pancreatic, thyroid and ovarian cancer, they did not prove to be effective in reducing mortality rates of these cancers. Adaption of prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening test for prostate cancer has not been related to improved survival rates instead it resulted in what has been known as "prostate cancer epidemic" due to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of prostate cancer. The dilemma of current cancer diagnostic techniques results from the trade-off between specificity and sensitivity of the cancer screening. Specific cancer screening strategies that depend on either imaging or histopathological examination are not sensitive enough and miss latent or asymptomatic cancers. While sensitive techniques that depend on biomarker screening in biofluids like PSA test are not specific enough for accurate decision. In addition, most of these techniques are time consuming, expensive and require centralized laboratories with highly trained technicians. These criteria limit the availability of cancer screening technique to developed countries with well-established healthcare systems and limit their application in areas with limited resources. The goal of this thesis is to develop and test techniques with promising specificity and sensitivity for screening and staging of different types of cancers. Several approaches have been studied to develop point-of-care (POC) sensors for prostate, head and neck cancers that are of low cost, utilizes low sample volumes, automated or semiautomated and can be utilized in remote areas with limited resources. 3D printing was used to prototype and mass produce microfluidic chips and adaptors with better fluid handling characteristics and much lower cost than traditional microfluidic systems. Panels of selected biomarker proteins were multiplexed on the same microfluidic chip to improve assay septicity while maintaining ultralow sensitivities.

Early diagnosis of cancer and other non-oncological disorders gives a significant advantage for curing the disease and improving patient's life expectancy. Recent advances in biosensor-based techniques which are designed for specific biomarkers can be exploited for early diagnosis of diseases. Biosensor Based Advanced Cancer Diagnostics covers all available biosensor-based approaches and comprehensive technologies; along with their application in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic management of various oncological disorders. Besides this, current challenges and future aspects of these diagnostic approaches have also been discussed. This book offers a view of recent advances and is also helpful for designing new biosensor-based technologies in the field of medical science, engineering and biomedical technology. Biosensor Based Advanced Cancer Diagnostics helps biomedical engineers, researchers, molecular biologists, oncologists and clinicians with the development of point of care devices for disease diagnostics and prognostics. It also provides information on developing user friendly, sensitive, stable, accurate, low cost and minimally invasive modalities which can be adopted from lab to clinics. This book covers in-depth knowledge of disease biomarkers that can be exploited for designing and development of a range of biosensors. The editors have summarized the potential cancer biomarkers and methodology for their detection, plus transferring the developed system to clinical application by miniaturization and required integration with microfluidic systems. - Covers design and development of advanced platforms for rapid diagnosis of cancerous biomarkers - Takes a multidisciplinary approach to sensitive transducers development, nano-enabled advanced imaging, miniaturized analytical systems, and device packaging for point-of-care applications - Offers an insight into how to develop cost-effective diagnostics for early detection of cancer

The analyses of patient tumor biopsy samples and biopsy-based diagnostics have emerged as important tools for cancer diagnostics. However, the techniques employed currently are restricted to centralized laboratories as they are time-consuming, manual labor intensive and vary considerably in their effectiveness amongst institutions and countries. Point of Care testing (POCT) for cancer with the capacity for multiplexed detection of numerous biomarkers in biopsy samples in a rapid, precise and portable manner is emerging as an area with enormous potential to disseminate universal diagnostics to cancer patients. Additionally, POCT can be used as a screening tool, to discern malignant from benign tumors at the physician's office, and lead to reduction in the need for expensive and time-consuming laboratory tests, hence minimizing the cost and anxiety, for patients with benign tumors. A POCT platform for multiple biomarker analysis can not only improve the operational characteristics of assays but can also help ascertain drug efficacy, ushering in personalized medicine for the patients. The reduced volumes and diffusion distances, which enable multiplexed, portable and quick assays, in microfluidic devices makes such devices a promising platform to realize POCT systems. But current microfluidic devices for cancer diagnostics suffer from the lack of a generalized on-chip sample preparation module and a simplified fluid actuation technique. The overall goal of the reported dissertation research is to develop microfluidic modules that will enable the development of integrated microfluidic diagnostic platforms for the multiplexed detection of cancer biomarkers in tumor biopsy samples. The main focus of the thesis is on the development of novel microfluidic sample preparation modules. The purpose of the sample preparation component is to pre-concentrate cancerous cells, remove background proteins in the sample and to subsequently lyse the cells to release the proteins of interest. The pre-concentration of the adherent cells, including the cancerous cells, in the sample is reported by trapping them using a novel hydrodynamic cell trap. The sample washing methods, to remove extracellular proteins that could interfere with downstream assays, is also optimized. An electrochemical lysis technique is then integrated to the cell pre-concentration module, to effectively lyse the cells without having to add external reagents. Microfluidic modules for the separation of bacterial and mammalian cells from mixed samples are also reported. The immortalized cancer cell lines used in this research include the human breast cancer cell lines BT-474, known to over express the Her-2 protein, and T47D along with cervical cancer cell line HeLa. The development of a novel fluid actuation technique, termed Proximal Degas-driven Flow (PDF), is also reported in this thesis. PDF takes advantage of the high porosity and air solubility of PDMS to reduce the pressure inside the fluidic channels leading to fluid flow in the channel. This actuation technique enables bubble-free fluid flow, can be used to fill up dead-end chambers in contrast to traditional pressure (positive or negative) driven flows and does not require the priming of the channels. Unlike degas-driven flow, PDF alleviates the need for pre-degassed and sealed devices, enabling consistent and longer-lasting fluid flow. This portable technique also requires very simple and cheap hardware like a vacuum bulb or membrane pump (thumb pump). In conclusion, several microfluidic modules to enable Point of Care biopsy-based cancer diagnostics are introduced. The research presented in this dissertation is an effort to transform point-of-care cancer testing and provide universal diagnostics and personalized medicine to cancer patients.

This book focuses on state-of-the-art microfluidic research in medical and biological applications. The top-level researchers in this research field explain carefully and clearly what can be done by using microfluidic devices. Beginners in the field —undergraduates, engineers, biologists, medical researchers—will easily learn to understand microfluidic-based medical and biological applications. Because a wide range of topics is summarized here, it also helps experts to learn more about fields outside their own specialties. The book covers many interesting subjects, including cell separation, protein crystallization, single-cell analysis, cell diagnosis, point-of-care testing, immunoassay, embyos/worms on a chip and organ-on-a-chip. Readers will be convinced that microfluidic devices have great potential for medical and biological applications.

Biomedical Applications of Microfluidic Devices introduces the subject of microfluidics and covers the basic principles of design and synthesis of actual microchannels. The book then explores how the devices are coupled to signal read-outs and calibrated, including applications of microfluidics in areas such as tissue engineering, organ-on-a-chip devices, pathogen identification, and drug/gene delivery. This book covers high-impact fields (microarrays, organ-on-a-chip, pathogen detection, cancer research, drug delivery systems, gene delivery, and tissue engineering) and shows how microfluidics is playing a key role in these areas, which are big drivers in biomedical engineering research. This book addresses the fundamental concepts and fabrication methods of microfluidic systems for those who want to start working in the area or who want to learn about the latest advances being made. The subjects covered are also an asset to companies working in this field that need to understand the current state-of-the-art. The book is ideal for courses on microfluidics, biosensors, drug targeting, and BioMEMs, and as a reference for PhD students. The book covers the emerging and most promising areas of biomedical applications of microfluidic devices in a single place and offers a vision of the future. - Covers basic principles and design of microfluidics devices - Explores biomedical applications to areas such as tissue engineering, organ-on-a-chip, pathogen identification, and drug and gene delivery - Includes chemical applications in organic and inorganic chemistry - Serves as an ideal text for courses on microfluidics, biosensors, drug targeting, and BioMEMs, as well as a reference for PhD students