Researchers at King’s College London have created a painless nanoneedle patch that could change how medical diagnostics are carried out.
The patch offers a painless, quicker, and more accurate alternative to traditional biopsies. This could make medical procedures more appealing and encourage more people to seek treatments.
Senior lecturer at King’s College London and lead author of the study Ciro Chiappini said the patches can create “a world of possibilities” for those with brain cancer, Alzheimer’s and for advancing personalised medicine. The team has been working on nanoneedles for twelve years, calling the patch the “most exciting development yet”.
The patch is made up of tens of millions of nanoneedles around 1,000 times thinner than a strand of human hair.
The nanoneedles do not extract tissue, unlike conventional biopsies. Instead, they gather molecular fingerprints from the tissue without causing damage or discomfort. The study specifically focused on lipid profiling and applied the patch to brain cancer tissue from human samples and mice.
Once collected, the samples are analysed using a combination of mass spectrometry and artificial intelligence, offering a depth of molecular data that surpasses traditional biopsy methods.
The patch can only sample surface-level tissue. However, during surgery, it becomes a powerful tool.
According to Phys Org, surgeons could apply the patch directly to a suspicious area and receive results in as little as 20 minutes, helping guide real-time decisions. Despite this, the patch is still in early development.
Featured image via Canva
