Turkish early cancer detection microchip claims awards

Two high school students in Turkey, who developed a microchip for early detection of cancer, have claimed yet another award.

Berna Akdeniz and Leyla Al Masoud -- developers of the microchip in western province of Izmir -- decided to study on early diagnosis of cancer in 2016 and after a year the duo developed a microfluidic chip to diagnose lung, breast and prostate cancers early.

The early cancer detection microchip was among the winning projects of SciChallenge contest for 2017. Akdeniz and Al Masoud's project left 438 projects in the science contest -- supported by EU -- behind.

The project also claimed third award in biomedical engineering field during International Science and Engineering Fair held in the U.S. city of Pittsburg in mid-May.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Al Masoud said she didn't think that they would succeed this much.

"We developed two microfluidic chips for early diagnosis of lung, breast and prostate cancers. When we pipette any fluid sample taken from body into microfluidic chips, we can view the results," Al Masoud said, and added that with the help of microscope they are able to see whether the cells are cancerous or not.

"Our system works on two levels. First level is a general cancer screen test and in the second one we observe the type of cancer i.e. lung, breast or prostate", she said.

Akdeniz, Al Masoud's teammate said: "Treatment of cancer is a long process for patients and doctors. Thanks to early diagnosis, patients now have more chance to survive."