(April 6, 2015) Separating
circulating cancer cells from blood cells for diagnostic, prognostic and
treatment purposes may become much easier using an acoustic separation method
and an inexpensive, disposable chip, according to a team of engineers.
"Looking for circulating tumor cells in a blood sample
is like looking for a needle in a haystack," said Tony Jun Huang,
professor of engineering science and mechanics.
"Typically, the CTCs are about one in every one billion blood cells
in the sample."