A research project led by the University of Windsor is working to revolutionize brain cancer treatment.
This project is working to develop degradable electronics to detect and treat brain cancer. These implanted devices will identify cancer growth and then degrade, releasing medicine directly.
The research team has received a two-year, $250,000 grant from the Tri-Agency New Frontiers in Research Fund - Exploration program for their project.
The team will test treatment by using 3D bio-printed brain models with cancer cells, in collaboration with UWindsor professor John Trant and a team from the University of Victoria.
Dr. Simon Rondeau-Gagné, lead researcher and associate professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Windsor, says the plastic would be embedded with electronic materials that would be able to detect cancer.
"So once you have that degradable sensor, you can trigger the release of a drug. So if your plastic is filled up with drugs, chemotherapeutic agents, then the sensor will detect cancer, then it will trigger the degradation of the plastic - releasing the drug and hopefully treating the cancer."
He says this sensor would be inserted during surgery to remove the cancerous tumours.
"You just cannot remove all of those tiny cancer cells. So what we would envision is you that you would then put these as an implant, and then the sensor will be turned on. And then you monitor, and at some point as soon as the sensor can detect a molecule associated to brain cancer relapsing, then you can actually trigger right away the release of the therapeutics."
He says the next step is to combine all of the work together.
"So we have the materials that can degrade. We know how to make soft-sensors for brain cancer. We know what to look for, but now really what we need is to combine everything and get a sensing mechanism that works, and the degradation that will release what we want to release."
This team also includes individuals from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and the Department of Kinesiology, and the University of British Columbia's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The team will look to consult with medical practitioners and patients to see if the sensor can be used in clinical settings.
-with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides