From left: postdoctoral researcher Taylor Canady, professor Andrew Smith, graduate student Nantao Li, postdoctoral researcher Lucas Smith and professor Brian Cunningham.
Brian Cunningham, CCIL Program Leader and professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Andrew Smith, CCIL member and associate professor of bioengineering, led a team of Illinois researchers who developed a method to capture and count cancer-associated microRNAs, or tiny bits of messenger molecules that are exuded from cells and can be detected in blood or serum. The group developed a technique named Photonic Resonator Absorption Microscopy (PRAM) that was sensitive enough to detect small amounts of known prostate cancer markers in a patient’s serum.
– Written by the CCIL Communications Team