Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects

Most cancer diagnoses are first established using a biopsy, and as such, biopsies are criticalto the health care of Canadians. Different types of biopsies are performed to achieve adiagnosis, but physicians do prefer fine-needle aspiration cytology, hereafter referred to ascytology, because it is associated with fewer side effects for the patients. Accordingly, thenumber of cytology performed annually is increasing for many organs such as lung andpancreas. Cytology is evaluated by pathologists, who are using different tools to refine theirdiagnoses. The objective of the most commonly used tool is to detect proteins in the cellswhich are specific for cancer. The multiple preparation steps that have to be performed tocolour those proteins can destroy said proteins and therefore affect the reliability of the tool.Our objective is therefore to bypass the preparation steps by using metallic nanoparticles toidentify the proteins without degrading them, thus improving the reliability of the diagnosis.Furthermore, we propose to use specific laser-based technologies to detect the metallicnanoparticles. This project may be considered pioneering as clinical validation on humancytology samples will ensure highly beneficial accuracy of diagnosis and optimal selection oftreatment, consequently improving the health of Canadian patients. To achieve this innovativeresearch project, we put together an excellent multidisciplinary and complementary team ofinternationally renowned scientists and industrial partners coming from the full spectrum ofknowledge involved in this project. This team has already acquired a strong expertise inmetallic nanoparticles use and detection for biological diagnostics and we are recognized byour peers as protein detection experts. Our excellence is demonstrated by multiple patentsand declarations of inventions. Our industrial partner, Photon etc, completes our skills incommercialization of metallic nanoparticles and their detection.