Grant: CIHR Fellowship

High-grade brain tumors, like glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), are formidable adversaries in the realm of medicine. They evolve rapidly, thwarting our attempts at diagnosis and treatment using conventional methods. These tumors often remain beyond our reach, accessible only through invasive procedures such as surgery or biopsy. These procedures, however, offer only a glimpse into the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of the disease. This limitation is particularly problematic when monitoring the effectiveness of treatments like chemotherapy. Notably, these states are marked by the tiny structures known as extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are released by cells and can be detected in the bloodstream of patients. Remarkably, these EVs carry valuable information about the cancer cells they originate from, including identifying features of the cells, their health status, and crucially, how they might respond to different treatments. Understanding these EV "fingerprints" could hold the key to improving cancer diagnosis and treatment. While EVs can be non-invasively collected from blood, extracting meaningful information from individual EVs within this complex mixture remains challenging. To truly understand the landscape of these EVs, we need a technology capable of capturing their molecular fingerprints individually. To meet this challenge, we propose using a label-free method, combining single EV confinement in nanocavities with advanced microscopy and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)- a technique that provides molecular information. This innovation aims to decode the unique molecular fingerprints of individual EVs, seeking patterns that monitor the response to therapy. This research has the potential to improve our approach to high-grade brain tumors. By decoding the complex landscapes of EVs, personalized and effective treatments can be developed, bringing hope to patients. Through this technology, we aim to unlock new frontiers in monitoring brain tumor care.