Researchers create new test for monitoring leukaemiaJanuary 24, 2018 - 14:47 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Australian researchers have developed a new method of monitoring leukaemia cells in the blood, it was announced on Wednesday, January 24, according to Xinhua. The team from the University of Western Australia (UWA) invented the technique, named Immuno-flowFISH which enabled the leukaemia cell to be seen using a microscope. It allows more than 20,000 cells to be assessed in a single test, a significant improvement on current methods which allow the assessment of only a few hundred cells. The method has been tested on patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, the most common type of leukaemia in Australia. Kathy Fuller, a scientist from UWA's Translational Cancer Pathology Laboratory, said that assessing the chromosomes in leukaemia cells was crucial in determining the best treatment and likely outcome for a patient. She said the test, which was named to reacknowledge the three components of the test; "immune" for immunology testing used to identify leukaemia cells, "flow" because a imaging flow cytometer is used and "FISH" for the name of the test that identified chromosomes, could identify cancer even when there was few cells present. "This will allow it to be used as a sensitive test to monitor the cancer," Fuller said in a media release on Wednesday. "The imaging cytometer can analyse samples at a rate of up to 2,000 cells per second which means we can investigate a large number of cells in a relatively short amount of time, giving us greater sensitivity." The research team is now working to make the test compatible with other types of leukaemia with the hope that it will one day be used to monitor chromosomes in all types of blood and bone marrow cancers. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Ucom Celebrates Telecommunication Day May 17 commemorates the founding of the International Telecommunication Union on May 17, 1865. Armenian, Azerbaijani heads of parliament meet in Switzerland President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Border residents overnight on highway to protest Armenia’s Residents of Kirants continue to express outrage over the government’s decision to cede land to Azerbaijan. Get Started: An educational platform for young startuppers The Get Started program which operates in two phases is an important platform for young startuppers. |