They’ve developed patches with millions of nano-needles to replace traditional biopsies

2025/06/16 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

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• Medikuntza

In conventional biopsies, a portion of tissue is removed for diagnostic purposes. To overcome the problems associated with surgery, a patch with millions of nanoscopic needles has been developed at King’s College London. Through it, they hope to be able to diagnose cancer, Alzheimer’s and other pathologies more easily, quickly and safely.

In addition, it has been confirmed that this method also allows the monitoring of the condition. For example, it could be used in brain surgery, implanted in the area considered suspicious. The surgeon can have the result within 20 minutes, which can help him make faster and more accurate decisions.

In fact, the nanorods directly extract the compounds necessary for their diagnosis (lipids, proteins and mRNA, among others) and are analyzed using mass spectrometry and artificial intelligence. Since the patch does not destroy the tissue, the same method can be used several times in the same place to observe the evolution. For the time being, it has been used in mice and human cell cultures.The study has been published in open form in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.