(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau) A fast, inexpensive yet sensitive technique to detect cancer markers is bringing researchers closer to a ‘liquid biopsy’ — a test using a small sample of blood or serum to detect cancer, rather than the invasive tissue sampling routinely used for diagnosis. The method captures and counts cancer-associated microRNAs, or tiny bits of messenger molecules that are exuded from cells and can be detected in blood or serum, with single-molecule resolution.

Original source: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-12/uoia-sdo121819.php