Wouldn’t it be marvellous if this diagnostic tool could be added...

Wouldn’t it be marvellous if this diagnostic tool could be added to Prizma in the future!
THE AUSTRALIAN 6Dec18

New 10-minute cancer test

Queensland scientists have developed a test they hope could be “the holy grail” for diagnosing cancer. The test has been developed by University of Queensland researchers who have discovered a special DNA nanostructure that appears to be common to all cancers.


Research professor Matt Trau says this has enabled an entirely new non-invasive approach to detect cancer in any tissue type including blood, and led to the creation of inexpensive and portable detection devices. These could eventually be used as a diagnostic tool, possibly with a mobile phone, he said. “Virtually every piece of cancerous DNA we examined had this highly predictable pattern,” Professor Trau said yesterday. “We certainly don’t know yet whether it’s the holy grail for all cancer diagnostics, but it looks really interesting (and could become) an incredibly simple universal marker of cancer … that doesn’t require complicated lab-based equipment.”


The new test takes just 10 minutes and has proved to be up to 90 per cent accurate in tests involving 200 human cancer samples and normal DNA. Researchers are now working to further develop the technology and license it with a commercial partner. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

AAP