Research Spotlight: a new “lab-on-a-disc” device paves the way for more automated liquid biopsies

(Press-News.org) Hakho Lee, PhD, Director of the Biomedical Engineering Program at the Center for Systems Biology at Mass General Brigham, is the co-senior author of a paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, “Automated disc device for multiplexed extracellular vesicle isolation and labelling from liquid biopsies in cancer diagnostics.” Hyunkyung Woo, PhD, a research fellow also at the Center for Systems Biology, is a co-lead author.
 

Q: What challenges or unmet needs make this study important?

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are tiny particles shed by cells that carry important molecular “clues” about the cell’s identity and condition. EVs in blood vary widely and are mixed with many other particles, making them difficult for laboratory scientists and researchers to analyze reliably. Current EV isolation methods are often manual, slow and not designed to measure multiple biomarkers at once. These limitations have held back the use of EV‑based liquid biopsies—especially for detecting multiple cancers from a single blood sample.
 

Q: What central question(s) were you investigating?

We wanted to know whether blood samples could be processed automatically, at high throughput and without bias to accurately detect multiple cancer types. We also asked whether the protein profiles, or patterns, that emerged from measuring many different proteins on EVs at once could distinguish cancer from non‑cancer samples and identify specific tumor types. Finally, we tested whether all of these steps could be combined into a single, clinically practical “lab‑on‑a‑disc” device.
 

Q: What methods or approach did you use?

We created an innovative centrifugal system called SpinEx that separates plasma, enriches (or concentrates) EVs and simultaneously labels many proteins—all within one device. Specifically, the system includes on‑disc chromatography (a technique to separate different substances in a mixture) for EV isolation, microbead chambers for EV capture and compartments for labeling different EV protein targets. After processing, samples were quantified and analyzed using an instrument called high‑throughput flow cytometry.
 

Q: What did you find?

SpinEx enabled fast, automated EV isolation and multiplex labeling from very small blood volumes (150 µL). The EV protein profiles it generated accurately distinguished cancer from non‑cancer samples in an independent test set and successfully classified five different cancer types. These findings show that fully integrated EV processing can produce clinically meaningful diagnostic information.

 

Q: What are the real-world implications, particularly for patients?

This technology supports minimally invasive cancer detection using a simple blood draw and a fully automated workflow. For patients, this could enable earlier detection, better identification of cancer type and ongoing disease monitoring over time. Because SpinEx is automated and suited for high‑throughput testing, it also has strong potential for clinical adoption and future large‑scale screening.

 

Q: What part of this work feels most meaningful to you personally?

The most meaningful part of this work is showing that a complex EV workflow can be fully automated without losing analytical depth. EVs have long shown promise for cancer diagnostics, but translation has been limited by labor‑intensive, fragmented processing steps. Watching SpinEx move from an idea to a device that can process whole blood and deliver multiplex biomarker results felt like a real step toward improving patient care. It reinforced my passion for working at the intersection of engineering and medicine, where technology can directly advance diagnostics.

 

Authorship: In addition to Lee and Woo, Mass General Brigham authors include Yoon-Jeong Choi, Young Kwan Cho, Hyunho Kim, Dae-Han Jung, Matt Allen, Jueun Jeon and Cesar M. Castro.

Paper cited: Woo, H.-K. et al. “Automated disc device for multiplexed extracellular vesicle isolation and labelling from liquid biopsies in cancer diagnostics.” Nature Biomedical Engineering. DOI: 10.1038/s41551-025-01601-7

Funding:  National Institutes of Health (NIH) (U01CA279858, U01CA284982, R01CA229777, R01CA239078, R01HL163513, R01CA237500, R21CA267222, R01CA264363, R61CA297878).

Disclosures: The authors (H.K.W., Y.C., H.L.) are inventors on an invention disclosure related to components of the SpinEx technology, which was filed and assigned to Mass General Brigham.

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