Development of an EpCAM-specific, Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe for Noninvasive DiFC Detection of Circulating Cancer Cells: A Novel Approach to Liquid Biopsies for Early Cancer Diagnosis

Overview

Professors: Summer Gibbs (OHSU) and Mark Niedre (Northeastern University) Over 50% of cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage, greatly reducing treatment efficacy. Early cancer detection significantly improves survival rates, but current methods are invasive or limited to 6mL of blood analysis. Blood -based cancer diagnosis focuses on detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are present in low concentrations in the blood. However, recent research suggests that CTCs merge with immune cells to form circulating hybrid cells (CHCs), which are ~10 times more abundant than CTC s. Both CTCs and CHCs overexpress the protein EpCAM, whose extracellular location makes it an ideal diagnostic target. This project synthesized a near -infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe to detect EpCAM by conjugating the EpCAM -specific peptide SNFYMPL to the NIR fluorophore AF647. The probe’s specificity was tested using fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry on mouse cancer cell lines. The probe was further integrated into diffuse in vivo flow cytometry (DiFC), a tool that noninvasively counts fluorescently labeled cells in flowing liquid. In DiFC, NIR light was passed through flowing samples of A431 cells, with fluorescent signals recorded by the probe. Experiments found a 15% detection rate. Although this seems low, this molecule’s small size (40x smaller than existing EpCAM locators), and its ability to detect both CTCs and CHCs across cancer types combined with DiFC technology’s potential to scan the entire blood volume holds significant promise as a step towards noninvasive comprehensive screening. Pennsylvania Powerful Plastics: The Effect of Glycerin on a Bioplastic Made with Sargassum Seaweed Veda Gandhi Parkland High School, Allentown, PA We are currently consuming over 380 million tons of plastic each year, and 50% of that waste is from single-use plastics. These plastics only have a “working life” of 15 minutes, but they take over 300 years to decompose. The purpose of this experiment was to develop a biodegradable seaweed bioplastic that has the potential to replace single -use plastic, while putting to use the excess Sargassum seaweed washing up on our beaches due to climate change. The original research question was, “What is the effect of increasing the concentration of glycerin on a bioplastic made with Sargassum seaweed?” When alginates, which are present in seaweed, are combined with glycerin and vinegar, it creates gel -like formations. This produces a flexible and strong film, similar to customary plastic used today. For this experiment, the tensile strength, water vapor permeability, and oxygen transfer rate were tested. Testing was conducted through an at - home setup for water vapor permeability and tensile strength, whereas oxygen t ransfer rate testing was done in a lab, with the appropriate equipment. At the end of the experiments, the researcher concluded that as more glycerin is added, the oxygen transfer rate and water vapor permeability are increased, while the tensile strength is lowered. This finding allows this bioplastic to be customized for a myriad of applications allowing for large scale adoption which in turn, reduces the use of traditional plastics.

Competition history

• JSHS 2025 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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