The Heller Laboratory developed machine perception liquid biopsy (MPLB), an approach to rapidly and inexpensively detect, identify, and predict disease states from blood or other biofluids, without prior knowledge of the biomarker class that may best illuminate the disease. MPLB also enables the discovery of biomarkers responsible for the signal/response. The method uses an array of quantum nanosensors to transduce subtle differences in the physicochemical properties of molecules, including proteins and small molecules, in biofluids. The diverse responses of the quantum nanosensor array, assessed by machine learning algorithms, collectively produce an indication-specific “fingerprint” of the condition, reflecting markers from the whole tumor ecosystem as well as non-tumor indications. We found that MPLB can detect and stratify primary brain tumors and identify tumor-derived and systemic immune and stress response proteins that drove the sensor responses.
News
MSK News: A New Kind of Liquid Biopsy That Detects Proteins
MSK News: New Liquid Biopsy Uses AI and Nanosensors to Diagnose Brain Tumors
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Publications
Goerzen D, Kim M, Schroff C, Hoang MN, Wollowitz JS, Kolb A, Walshon JP, McCortney K, Horbinski C, Galbraith K, Raoof S, Snuderl M, Ordureau A, Heller DA*. Machine perception liquid biopsy identifies brain tumours via systemic immune and tumour microenvironment signature. Nat Nanotechnol. 2026 Feb;21(2):277-287. doi: 10.1038/s41565-025-02080-2. Epub 2025 Dec 24.PMID: 41444829.
Highlighted in: MSK news
M Kim, C Chen, P Wang, JJ Mulvey, Y Yang, C Wun, M Antman-Passig, H-B Luo, S Cho, K Long, LV Ramanathan, A Jagota, M Zheng, Y Wang, DA Heller*. “Machine-Learning-Based Detection of an Ovarian Cancer Disease Fingerprint from Serum via Quantum Defect-Modified Carbon Nanotube Arrays.” Nature Biomedical Engineering (2022).
Z Yaari, Y Yang, E Apfelbaum, C Cupo, A Settle, Q Cullen, W Cai, K Long Roche, DA Levine, M Fleisher, L Ramanathan, M Zheng, A Jagota, DA Heller*. “A Perception-Based Machine-Perception Nanosensor Platform to Detect Cancer Biomarkers.” Science Advances 7 (2021) eabj0852.
J Budhathoki-Uprety, J Shah, JA Korsen, AE Wayne, TV Galassi, JR Cohen, JD Harvey, PV Jena, LV Ramanathan, EA Jaimes, DA Heller*. “Synthetic Molecular Recognition Nanosensor Paint for Microalbuminuria.” Nature Communications 10 (2019) 3605. [PMID: 31399600]
RM Williams, C Lee, TV Galassi, JD Harvey, R Leicher, M Sirenko, M Dorso, J Shah, N Olvera, F Dao, DA Levine,DA Heller*. “Non-Invasive Ovarian Cancer Biomarker Detection via an Optical Nanosensor Implant.” Science Advances 4 (2018) eaaq1090.
JD Harvey, PV Jena, HA Baker, GH Zerze, RM Williams, TV Galassi, D Roxbury, J Mittal, DA Heller: “A Carbon Nanotube Reporter of miRNA Hybridization Events In Vivo.” Nature Biomedical Engineering 1 (2017) 0041
