Researchers have developed a handheld cancer-screening device capable of detecting early-stage cancer biomarkers from just a single drop of blood. Developed by Westlake University in China, this new technology shrinks refrigerator-sized laboratory equipment into a portable device while boosting detection accuracy.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that the team boosted “accuracy to about 10,000 times that of conventional methods.” The system utilizes a 3D Bound States-in-the-Continuum (BIC) sensing chip. It requires only the chip, an LED light source, and a photodetector to operate.

Measuring the whispers of light

The promise of biopsy — catching microscopic traces of a tumor from a simple blood draw — has long been a logistical challenge. To catch the faint signals of early-stage tumors, doctors required huge apparatus packed with complex optical paths, expensive spectrometers, and sensitive prisms.  Moreover, these multi-hundred-dollar tests stayed locked inside specialized institutional laboratories, miles away from the patients who needed them most

In this new work, the team tried to shift the focus from complex light wavelengths to simple light intensity.  Notably, the bulky equipment was replaced with a highly sensitive mechanism called Q-modulated refractometric sensing. 

To harness this, a 3D metamaterial chip was designed. It can detect microscopic changes in the way light bends when cancer biomarkers are present. Furthermore, the slow, expensive process of standard chip manufacturing was tackled by utilizing an innovative aluminum-based fabrication technique. 

To put the system’s incredible sensitivity into perspective, imagine the entire range of how light can bend is stretched out along a one-meter ruler. Within that scale, this device is so precise that it can detect changes as tiny as a few millionths of a meter.

High accuracy

The team moved away from the painstaking process of manufacturing chips one by one, adopting a method more akin to movable-type printing. Reportedly, this allows for mass production of thousands of identical 3D sensing chips on a single wafer, slashing the cost per chip to just $5.

This affordable chip requires only a basic LED and a photodetector to measure light intensity, creating a simple, compact device suitable for at-home use. To prove its real-world power, the team partnered with Xiamen University to successfully track elusive lung cancer biomarkers (extracellular vesicles, sEVs) that are typically present at levels far too low for traditional laboratory equipment to detect.

In trials, the handheld device proved about 10,000 times more sensitive than the standard laboratory test (ELISA) at spotting early-stage lung cancer biomarkers.  When evaluated across 171 patient serum samples, this pocket-sized tool achieved a remarkable 94.9% accuracy for early cancer detection and 92.1% for post-surgery monitoring. 

In comparison, the standard laboratory method managed an accuracy rate of just 74.7%, highlighting the device’s potential to dramatically improve early diagnosis and patient tracking. By proving that ultra-precise, light-based sensors can be shrunk down and mass-produced affordably, the research establishes a reliable blueprint for a new generation of pocket-sized medical tools. 

Whether used by a doctor in a major city hospital, a health worker in an isolated rural village, or a patient running a self-test at the kitchen table, this technology aims to make highly accurate, early disease detection universal, instant, and accessible worldwide.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Photonics.