
Along with a healthy lifestyle, early recognition is critical to fighting cancer. Many track the occurrence of cancer through annual health checkups, but in many cases, cancer is detected late and treatment is delayed. In particular, it is difficult for people who are in the medical blind spot to receive regular checkups, so it is often discovered after cancer has already advanced considerably. The Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) is attempting to shorten the gap between the development of cancer in the body, and a diagnosis.
Did you guess pee? Because, if you did, urine luck! Scientists have found that a person’s urine can be used to diagnose cancer. This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Program and the National Research Foundation of Korea. In addition, the research results were published on January 9th 2023 in ‘Biosensors and Bioelectronics, a world-renowned journal in the field of biosensors.
Test strips are utilized for collecting samples, and since the production price of the strip-type sensor is inexpensive to produce, it is expected that it can be used for mass production. Patents in the US are already pending. Currently, the research team is gradually increasing the types of cancer that can be diagnosed by analyzing the urine of prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer patients.
You can read all about this ongoing discovery here.
ABOUT KIMS: KIMS is a non-profit government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT of the Republic of Korea. As the only institute specializing in comprehensive materials technologies in Korea, KIMS has contributed to Korean industry by carrying out a wide range of activities related to materials science including R&D, inspection, testing&evaluation, and technology support.