Projects
Here is the summary of a few projects we are currently working on.
Liquid biopsies and cfDNA for diagnosis of lymphoma
Liquid biopsy is the emerging term for characterizing the collection of body fluids and analysis of biomarkers to detect pathological processes. It can be used for early detection of neoplasia, stratifying and monitoring response to treatment, and detecting relapse.
We aim to investigate whether cell-free DNA (cfDNA) can be detected in plasma of dogs and cats with lymphoma and be used for diagnostic and prognostic purposes.
Detection of CTCs using MALDI-TOF MS for diagnosis of melanoma
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is an analytical technique based on the fragmentation of peptides into charged molecules that are then analyzed in terms of their mass to charge ratio, generating a characteristic spectrum fingerprint.
We aim to explore the use of MALDI-TOF MS to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in horses and dogs with melanoma.
Inflammatory bowel disease and intestinal T cell lymphoma in cats
Alimentary T cell lymphoma and inflammatory bowel disease are two diseases that commonly affect cats and are clinically difficult to differentiate from each other. The currently available diagnostic techniques are invasive, and in some cases, histopathologic evaluation can provide a diagnosis, but in many others, the results are inconclusive.
This project explores genomics, spatial transcriptomics , and miRNome analysis to identify the differences between those two diseases to lay the foundation for future diagnostic biomarkers.
