This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project proposes to develop a novel supersensitive multiphoton detection system for protein chips (P-chip/MPD) for applications in drug discovery and in early detection of prostate cancer and breast cancer.
The commercial impact of the proposed work will be in the area of diagnostic proteomics. The diagnostics industry is large, currently estimated at around 10 billion dollars per year. The most profitable and dynamically growing fields are those that permit early detection of cancer and therapy monitoring, or provide toxicity assays for new drugs. It is expected that the P-Chips/MPD developed in this project will eventually capture a significant share of the diagnostic proteomics market.