In response to the solicitation for development of nanotechnologies to improve cancer diagnosis by NCI, Agave BioSystems, in collaboration with Dr. George Malliaras, of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University, proposes to construct a novel organic semiconductor-based DNA microarray system for the diagnosis of cancer that will have a theoretical detection limit of a single copy of target. This detection system will depend on changes in current across an organic thin film transistor (OTFT) induced by the target molecule. Current microarray technologies are limited by the sensitivity and dynamic range of fluorescence detection, photobleaching, and the expense of incorporating fluorescent molecules into the assay. The OTFT is not bound by these restrictions, making the device more sensitive and cost effective than standard microarrays. In addition, we propose to integrate microfluidics with the DNA array thus adding the advantage of small sample volumes, greater sensitivity and the ability to automate the assay. Microfluidics will facilitate the cancer diagnosis by decreasing the quantity of original sample necessary for detection and providing a user friendly format to increase the reproducibility and reliability of the assay. The promise of the microfluidic OTFT microarray is the classification of cancer to increase the efficacy and minimize the toxicity of cancer treatments.
