IBM Systems Magazine, Power Systems - February 2018 - 45
Say a patient goes to the doctor for a PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) prostate cancer screening, which typically has a high rate of false positives. Many people get frightened if they may have elevated PSA levels, but it shouldn't really be an immediate cause for concern because other factors will instead indicate that the prostate isn't cancerous. Maybe the prostate is just inflamed. So the question is, can we find a marker that complements or maybe replaces PSA tests and is more specific and sensitive? ISM: How does the physics of fluids play into this new work? GS: Exosomes have been found in virtually every fluid in the body, therefore the physics of fluids can play an important role in separating the different components, including exosomes, from those fluids. As it turns out, the nanoDLD lends itself very well to separating, identifying and quantifying exosomes from fluid samples. There are technical difficulties with the isolation of exosomes in that they're very small, and we believe our technology can solve those difficulties. When it does, we'll make big step towards using exosomes in a platform that could be used at the doctor's office, which would make a big contribution towards liquid biopsy analysis. ISM: So this will be used in clinical settings? GS: That's the idea and vision behind what we're doing: A person goes to a doctor and gives a blood or urine sample. This sample then goes into our device, where the solution gets processed in such a way that the exosomes are separated and interrogated with respect to the markers they have. In the best case, you don't have any markers that should be of concern. In the worst case, a few markers show levels that are in a range that indicates that we should do more testing. So the advantage of this is that you could look at many markers simultaneously corresponding to several cancers or even other diseases in the same assessment very fast and cheap. ISM: How quickly would the results come back? GS: Ideally, within hours. So Expert Tips for Avoiding AIX Security Mistakes Thursday, February 22 | 1 ET / Noon CT FEATURING: One common error makes an attacker's work much easier From DDoS to malware, attackers have many strategies at their disposal-and cybersecurity mistakes make their attacks much easier. One serious mistake is failing to create a security policy-a written statement of how you intend to protect IT assets. Bob Erdman Security Product Manager HelpSystems But how do you even begin defining a security policy if you're not an AIX security expert? Join this session to learn how to create an effective security policy and avoid AIX security mistakes. Register Today: webcasts.com/ibmsystemsmag sponsored advertising content ibmsystemsmag.com FEBRUARY 2018 // 45