Imagine a tiny, lab-grown piece of bone marrow that acts like a biological alarm system. When lung cancer returns, it leaves a chemical trail that this chip can detect long before a scan shows a tumor. It's like having a high-tech smoke detector for cancer cells in the blood.
Lung cancer relapse is currently only diagnosed late via radiology, leaving a critical gap in early detection. This delay significantly reduces the effectiveness of tailored treatments and lowers patient survival rates.
A miniaturized bone marrow-on-chip device featuring microfluidic bioreactors and optical biosensors to detect cancer-educated stromal cells.
If you are a liquid biopsy developer dealing with the inability to predict cancer recurrence early — this project developed a bone marrow-on-chip sensor that detects the amplified response of stromal cells to identify relapse. This allows for faster, tailored treatments to increase patient survival.
If you are an oncology drug developer dealing with high relapse rates in lung cancer patients — this project developed a miniaturized bone marrow device that acts as a biological sensor. This tool can be used to validate the efficacy of relapse-preventing therapies in a personalized medicine model.
If you are an organ-on-chip manufacturer dealing with a lack of specialized cancer-monitoring devices — this project developed a microfluidic bioreactor with optical sensors. This technology creates a standardized cellular model of the bone marrow niche for clinical decision-making.
Based on available project data, the specific unit cost or market price of the bone marrow-on-chip device is not provided.
The project focuses on developing a miniaturized in vitro device and microfluidic bioreactors, which are foundational for scaling, though industrial production capacity is not yet detailed.
Based on available project data, there is no specific mention of patents or licensing agreements, as the project is currently in the development and validation phase.
The project period runs from 2024-03-01 to 2027-02-28, indicating a three-year window for development and clinical validation.
The device is designed to process liquid biopsies from lung cancer patients, acting as a biological sensor to assist doctors in the decision-making process before radiological evidence appears.
The consortium is purely academic and research-driven, consisting of 4 partners from 3 countries (IT, ES, SE). With 0% industry representation and 0 SMEs, the project is currently focused on high-risk, high-reward scientific discovery rather than immediate commercialization, which is typical for the EIC Pathfinder scheme.
Contact the Politecnico di Milano research office regarding the BuonMarrow project.
Contact SciTransfer to identify potential industrial partners for the clinical validation phase of this technology.
