Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in Canada with an estimated 27,000 new cases being diagnosed in 2019 (Canadian Cancer Society). Currently, mammograms and needle biopsies are used to diagnose breast cancer, both of these techniques are invasive and uncomfortable. Therefore, there is a need for improved methods for diagnosis and monitoring of the disease. Fragments of healthy and breast cancer cells are constantly released into the blood stream and the fragments reflect the health or disease status of the cells that released them. Detection of cancer cell fragments in the blood of patients after a simple blood draw, would provide a non-invasive method to diagnose breast cancer. We aimed to use nanoscale flow cytometry to rapidly detect cancer cell derived fragments in small volumes of patient blood. We successfully identified breast-derived cell fragments in just a drop of blood from healthy and breast cancer patients. Next, we will use breast cancer specific markers to differentiate between healthy and cancerous breast derived cell fragments. This research will further advance a new technology that could be used in the clinic to screen for, diagnose and monitor breast cancer.