Team:NTHU Formosa/Academics
Academics
Meeting Doctor Chang,Hsing-Chih
The ultimate goal of BioWatcher is to apply this system on human to prevent late-stage cancers by early diagnosis. Therefore, we turned to Mr. Chung, a doctor who has PhD degree in molecular and cellular oncology in MD Anderson Cancer Center and currently works in Mackay Memorial Hospital for his experiences in clinical/cancer cases. What we discussed includes the potential and limitation of diagnostic biomarkers, the accuracy of diagnosis using biomarkers, and most importantly the design of BioWatcher.
1. What kind of cell is a suitable reporter cell candidate for modification?
ANS: Mesenchymal stem cells ?
A suitable candidate should possess properties listed:
1.Compatible with targeted human immune system
2.Can be easily modified
Prior to the meeting, white blood cell was on our list of choice. Yet, it was taken off list due to its inevitable interference with blood composition as the modified ones are introduced into humans’ circulating system. Dr. Chang suggested Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and Dendritic cells (DCs). Maturing of BioWatcher with time will give us more insight for the choice.
Known downside of MSCs-- its life span is not as long as we preferred—have us hesitate. However, regarding the immunoregulatory capacity of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and the fact that it has been widely used in many cell therapies, MSCs, in this case, become top choice for us. DCs are considered because of its antitumor immunity and the cases of Dendritic cell-based immunotherapy.
2. Mechanism for erasing all reporter cells in users is necessary.
Dr. Chang strongly recommended that we design a mechanism for wiping out the reporter cells introduced in user when we ignorantly think that the reporter cell is harmless and shortly mortal while overlook the importance of biosafety and the possible allergy responses in users. Therefore, we introduce
AID, the auxin-inducible degradation system, in which targets are degraged in response to auxin, into the design of BioWatcher.
Read more about our Biosafety design.
Reference:
1. De Miguel MP, Fuentes-Julián S et al. (2012) “Immunosuppressive properties of mesenchymal stem cells: advances and applications.”
2. Anguille S, Smits EL et al. (2014) “Clinical use of dendritic cells for cancer therapy.”
Collecting advise from Biomedical Engineering Expert
To enhance a project, opinions and insight from professions are profoundly meaningful. On August 13th, we consulted with Dr. Zong-Hong Lin, a professor in Institute of Biomedical Engineering, NTHU, who is dedicated to the research of nanosensors and nanosystem, to further improve BioWatcher.
Examining our system for countless times, our system faced a huge challenge, the difficulty of capturing bioluminescence from circulating reporter cells in the blood stream regarding the relatively low amount and mild intensity of reporter cells. Approaches such as improving the resolution of CCD camera and Increasing the amount of reporter cells introduced into the circulating system of the users are so far unfeasible. The former is only possible when technology catches up while the latter is impartical considering the balance of blood composition need to be maintained.
Dr. Lin enlightened us with the idea of pre-concentration, inspiring by a project conducted by Google X related to cancer and diseases detection using iron-oxide nanoparticles. To increase the sensitivity of BioWatcher, the idea of recalling all the nanoparticles to a single location can be applied in our project, meaning incorporating magnetic nanoparticles on the reporter cells so that the concentration of reporter cells can be temporarily increased for signal count by briefly magnetically fixing reporter cells underneath the watch long enough for the bioluminescence detecting process.
Reference
Associate Professor Lin, Zong-Hong
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, NTHU
Research Interest:
Design of Smart Nanogenerators with High Outputs/ Development of Self-powered Nanosensors and Nanosystems/ Detection of Biomolecules through Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy/ Fabrication of Porous Metal Nanomaterials for Electrochemical Applications/ Preparation of Functional Nanomaterials with Strong Antibacterial Activities