Development of microfluidic cell cultures and Aptamer-based biosensors for monitoring drug responses of pancreatic cancer

• Grant number: 18/16587-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: December 03, 2018
• End date: December 02, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biology
• Principal Investigator: Gustavo Rocha de Castro
• Grantee: Bruno Pereira Crulhas
• Supervisor: Alexander Revzin
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/25749-2 - Study of prostate cancer biomarkers by aptameric sensors, BP.PD

Abstract

The pancreatic cancer is a widespread disease with high mortality rate and traditional methods for diagnosis and monitoring are performed through invasive techniques. Currently, the advance of research in medical and biomedical engineering allowed the use of molecular tools combined with nanotechnology to develop portable biosensors specific for major biomarkers to diagnostic, monitoring and treatment of several diseases. More specifically, the cellular responses to biological, chemical or physical stimuli can be evaluated by electrochemical techniques. The objective of this project is the development of integrated aptamer-based biosensors on microfluidic devices to study different cell biomarkers released by pancreatic cancer cells isolated from patients, as: pancreatic adenocarcinoma upregulated factor (PAUF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and polymorphic epithelial mucin (MUC1), in a novel device where the cellular microenvironment can be precisely defined offering new insights into the molecular metabolism events and for clinical analysis of patients with pancreatic cancer.