Scientists at King’s College London have developed a patch-like array of nanoneedles that can extract rich molecular data from living tissues – without cutting or damaging them. The technique, demonstrated on brain tumour biopsies and mouse models, offers a minimally invasive alternative to standard tissue biopsies, with the potential to transform the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases such as cancer.
The porous silicon nanoneedles, roughly 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, collect molecules directly from tissue through a gentle contact process. These “molecular replicas” are then analyzed using desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging to map lipid distributions with spatial resolution, which “preserves the integrity of the original tissue while replicating its spatial molecular profile” on the nanoneedle substrate, according to the authors.
“This approach provides multidimensional molecular information from different types of cells within the same tissue. Traditional biopsies simply cannot do that,” said Ciro Chiappini, lead author of the study, in a recent press release.
In preclinical studies, nanoneedles were used to sample human high-grade glioma tissue and glioma-bearing mouse brains, successfully capturing diagnostic molecular markers. The system could classify grey matter, white matter, and tumor regions with high fidelity. In machine learning models, lipidomic profiles from nanoneedle replicas matched tissue sections with 85 percent accuracy in top-ranked correlations, and logistic regression models could predict tumor grade with comparable performance (area under the curve of 0.75 vs 0.71 for standard samples).
The patch also enabled longitudinal lipidomic analysis. In one experiment, brain slices from glioma models were sampled over five days to monitor the effect of temozolomide, a common chemotherapy. Key lipid species changed in abundance in response to treatment – including complete disappearance of a tumour-associated phosphatidylserine species in treated samples – demonstrating the potential for dynamic treatment monitoring.
“[Our technology] opens a world of possibilities for people with brain cancer, Alzheimer’s, and for advancing personalized medicine,” added Chappiani. “It will allow scientists – and eventually clinicians – to study disease in real time like never before.”
The nanoneedles were fabricated using microchip production techniques and could be integrated into a range of clinical tools, from surgical instruments to contact lenses. According to the authors, the method is “non-destructive, repeatable and preserves lipid spatial distribution,” making it well-suited for spatial biology and precision diagnostics.
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