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A miniaturized neural network enabled nanoplasmonic spectroscopy platform for label-free cancer detection in biofluids

Award Number: R01CA273253
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/01/2023
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2028

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A miniaturized neural network enabled nanoplasmonic spectroscopy platform for label-free cancer detection in biofluids - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT State of the art methods for the early detection and monitoring of cancer are either invasive, time-consuming, expensive, or frequently inaccurate, which hinders the routine screening of at risk-patients to improve survival rates. The multiplexed detection of oncometabolites circulating in minimally or non-invasive biofluids, such as saliva, blood plasma, or sweat, could provide significant clinical and economic benefits. Metabolites and related circulating biomarkers are structurally unique elements with distinctive absorptive fingerprints in the infrared (IR) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Common approaches that provide multiplexed metabolite detection, such as mass spectrometry (MS), Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, are expensive and difficult to miniaturize. On the other hand, inexpensive miniaturized electrochemical techniques lack specificity, sensitivity, ease, and suffer from limited multiplexing. Portable technologies capable of rapid and accurate diagnostics of early/late-stage cancer are not readily available. To address this challenge, our multidisciplinary team proposes an innovative Neural Network Enabled Cancer Spectroscopy (NNECS) liquid biopsy platform based on plasmonic nano-micro electromechanical systems (NMEMS) to diagnose and monitor early/late-stage head neck cancer (HNC). Instead of targeting individual metabolites, we propose to process the entire IR spectrum of saliva, blood plasma, and sweat as a biomarker. Our focus is head and neck cancer (HNC), a highly metabolic disease where stratification of patients according to better diagnostic information would greatly improve outcomes. Our platform combines IR NMEMS sensors to accurately detect IR spectral fingerprints with neural network (NN) frameworks to find the appropriate combinations of spectral bands that will inform the design of highly multiplexed miniaturized biosensor. We will take a novel, interdisciplinary approach within the framework of five key components: (i) collecting and analyzing (FTIR, MS, histopathology/imaging) biofluids (saliva, sweat, blood) from a large number of early/late stage HNC patients and healthy subjects per year; (ii) developing powerful NN architectures and diagnosis tools for segregating early/late-stage HNC samples from controls, considering IR data streams from each individual biofluid as well as their potential combinations; (iii) developing a NNECS platform using arrays of plasmonic NMEMS targeting specific IR bands resolved by ML algorithms; (iv) determining NNECS early/late-stage cancer detection performance in terms of specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy; and (v) elucidating which metabolites drive the changes in the IR absorption of cancer biofluids supported by MS. The expected outcome is a miniaturized, label-free, affordable, and accurate technology able to radically improve the ability to diagnose early- stage HNC as well as the monitoring of recurrent HNC patients. Moving beyond, NNECS can be adapted for the diagnosis and monitoring of a wide range of metabolic conditions, including many types of cancer, diabetes, and heart-diseases.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $727,358 )
2026	2026	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	001	4	5/4/2026	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$85,653
2026	2026	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	000	4	4/20/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$641,705
														Subtotal = $727,358

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $731,012 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	000	3	3/12/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$580,823
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	004	3	9/1/2025	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$85,653
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	002	3	5/22/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$64,536
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	001	3	5/2/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2025	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	003	2	9/1/2025	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$0
														Subtotal = $731,012

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $759,646 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	002	2	7/18/2024	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$85,546
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR, STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	000	2	3/29/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$560,643
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	001	2	4/17/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$31,147
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	003	2	9/11/2024	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$82,310
														Subtotal = $759,646

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $629,040 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS	1850 RESEARCH PARK DR, STE 300	DAVIS	CA	95618	YOLO	USA	Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research	000	1	3/30/2023	NEW	$629,040
														Subtotal = $629,040

Grand Total All Awards = $2,847,056

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A miniaturized neural network enabled nanoplasmonic spectroscopy platform for label-free cancer detection in biofluids

Award Number: R01CA273253

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/01/2023

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2028

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