Deeper Dive
In my project, I developed a blood-based method for detecting pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is one of the few major cancers whose mortality rate has not declined substantially over the past few decades. One reason is that pancreatic cancer is often asymptomatic in its early stages, meaning many patients are not diagnosed until the disease has progressed. Survival rates can fall from over 80% in early-stage disease to around 3% in advanced stages. I wanted to address this challenge by developing a more accessible and minimally invasive approach to early detection.
Cancer cells release tiny packets of biological information, called extracellular vesicles (EVs), into the bloodstream. However, cancer-derived EVs make up only a tiny fraction of all EVs circulating in the blood, making them difficult to detect. To overcome this, I developed a cocktail of magnetic nanospheres equipped with three different cancer-recognizing antibodies to selectively capture pancreatic cancer-associated EVs. I then analyzed their DNA for KRAS mutations, which are found in the vast majority of pancreatic cancers. By enriching these EVs before mutation detection, my approach could help improve the sensitivity and specificity of blood-based pancreatic cancer detection and ultimately contribute to earlier diagnosis.
Many of my experiments required long, uninterrupted hours in the lab over consecutive days, which was especially challenging during the school year. Experiments often failed or produced unexpected results, and setbacks were discouraging after investing so much time and effort. Nonetheless, I often learned the most by working through that uncertainty and frustration. Research taught me to be patient, persistent and willing to rethink my approach when things did not go as planned.
Ultimately, I hope this work can contribute to earlier and more accessible pancreatic cancer detection. Because my method requires only a blood sample, it could offer a minimally invasive approach that complements existing diagnostic methods. Earlier detection could give patients more treatment options and, most importantly, more time. The underlying strategy could also potentially be adapted to other diseases by changing the antibodies on the magnetic nanospheres to target different disease-specific markers. While my research is only one step toward that goal, I hope continued development and validation of blood-based detection methods can help improve outcomes for patients facing this devastating disease.