NEW TEST DETECTS RARE PROTEINS IN BLOOD

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have developed a method for detecting small amounts of proteins in the blood which will make discerning low-abundance molecules associated with cancer, Alzheimer's disease, prion diseases, and possibly psychiatric diseases easier and more accurate compared with the current methodology, including the widely used ELISA (enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay).

The sensitivity of detecting molecules by the new method, called FACTT (Florescent Amplification Catalyzed by T7-polymerase Technique), is 100,000 times greater than that of ELISA, the researchers found.