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Assessing the efficacy of anticancer drugs using high-precision weighing


​​​​How can we determine on a patient-by-patient basis the most appropriate anti-cancer agent to treat a tumor? Ultra-high-precision weighing can measure a small change in the mass of a tumor’s cell and therefore assess its sensitivity to treatment. CEA-Leti manufactures the Suspended Micro Resonator (SMR) required for this weighing process. It's a technology capable of detecting change in mass at one hundred thousandth of a billionth of a gram.
Published on 24 September 2024

How does it work?

CEA-Leti's Suspended Micro Resonator is a micrometric silicon beam that vibrates at several hundred kHz. This beam incorporates a microfluidic channel through which a fluid flows. When a cell passes through, the beam vibrates at a
frequency proportional to the cell's mass.

By comparing the masses of treated and untreated tumor cells, the SMR can reveal a change in mass, which can in turn illustrate a treatment's effectiveness.

Advantages?

The most appropriate treatment for a patient is identified within 48 hours of sample collection from a panel of 20 FDA-approved drugs. Administering the most effective anti-cancer treatment as quickly as possible is decisive for the outcome of the disease.

This suspended micro-resonator opens up new perspectives in personalized medicine. No other technique measures such small masses (femtogram, or even attogram).

Our research areas:

  • Optimization of manufacturing process steps​
  • Increased miniaturization of components​
  • Improving substrate sealing (silicon, SOI, glass)​
  • Micro-resonator geometry and architecture​

Applications?

Evaluation of chemotherapies, targeted therapies and immunotherapies in personalized medicine for cancer treatment.​

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