Nano-chip for cancer diagnostics

Exosomes are vesicles with a size range of 30 to 50 nm, which are secreted by a cell into its surroundings. They are currently investigated as possible biomarkers for the detection of early stage cancer, infections or autoimmune diseases. To identify which exosomes could contain viable markers, they have been isolated form body fluids such as blood, urine, or saliva and have subsequently undergone screening procedures Exosome isolation has, so far, been performed by ultra-centrifugation, a time-consuming procedure that requires large volumes of the fluid sample.