One of the main goals of the CELLo project – funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) – is the development of a portable, non-invasive, and cost-effective clinical diagnosis device to isolate and concentrate cancer cells present in urine. Led by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), with the participation of INESC TEC, the project features other external partners: a biotechnology company, two hospitals, the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health of the University of Porto, and the Beihang University. CELLo aims to present a solution to facilitate the early and personalised diagnosis of bladder cancer.
Bladder cancer has the highest risk of recurrence compared to other types of cancer (up to 70%); the current diagnosis and follow-up processes of patients are performed through a regular invasive cystoscopy and cytology, which require regular hospital visits. However, more than 60% of cytology interventions lead to undetermined diagnoses, requiring complementary analyses based on biomarkers present in urine. These factors make the clinical follow-up of patients with bladder cancer the most expensive.
In this context, the CELLo project – The sound of cells: An acoustic platform aiming towards biophysical cell fingerprints for label-free precision medicine – aims to develop a solution capable of facilitating the early diagnosis of the disease, in a personalised way. “This is the era of personalised cancer treatment. Still, personalised therapy is not possible without an equally personalised diagnosis”, stated Raphaël Canadas, researcher at FMUP.
This way, the multidisciplinary research team involved in CELLo will focus on defining a new set of biomarkers (measurable indicators that allow to detect and measure the degree of a certain disease) for cancer cells isolated from the urine of people with bladder cancer – a non-invasive source of relevant data for an early and personalised diagnosis.
“In addition, the project proposes the development of a portable, non-invasive and cost-effective clinical diagnosis device to isolate and concentrate cancer cells present in urine”, mentioned the researcher. In this sense, “having a non-invasive procedure, with comparable or higher sensitivity and specificity, would help in the follow-up of patients”, concluded Raphaël Canadas and Hélder Oliveira, researcher at INESC TEC.
The CELLo project started in March 2023, and is funded by FCT – with an overall budget of €250K.
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