(413f) Detection of Cancer Biomarkers Using Hydrogel Microparticles

Recent years have seen growing emphasis on early detection and identification of cancer risk in asymptomatic population to improve the clinical management of cancer. Despite the advances made in cancer therapy, the clinical outcome for cancer patients remains very poor. Early screening of cancer can facilitate in classifying asymptomatic people as likely or unlikely to harbor a tumor. Cancer molecular markers are assuming important role in cancer management including screening and early detection. Although ELISA remains the corner stone for protein quantification, adapting it for multiplexing or high through-put analysis has been difficult. By integrating antibody conjugation chemistry and immunoassay approach, we report the development of porosity tuned hydrogel (poly-ethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA)) microparticles for sensitive detection of molecular biomarkers which can be utilized for screening and early detection of cancer. We will also demonstrate that induction of porosity using PEG porogen improves the sensitivity of this simple hydrogel microsphere based system indicating that the sensitivity of the assay exceeds that of the conventional technologies.