Personalized medicine, or precision medicine, will be central to a robust and efficient health care system in the future. Professor Shirley Tang’s research in the area of Smart and Functional Materials will help lead to a more personalized medical system.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, total health care spending in Canada reached $242 billion in 2017. This represents 11.5 percent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Over the coming decades the Canadian healthcare system will change.
Queen’s University School of Public Policy Studies Health Policy Council highlighted the changing landscape of healthcare in Canada. They found that the health-care landscape is one of chronic disease, such as diabetes, dementia, heart failure and other chronic conditions. The Health Policy Council recommended that Canada needs to “de-hosptialize” the system to some degree and offer care to Canadians in their homes and local communities.
To maintain and improve the health care services Canadians have come to expect researchers at the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) are developing innovative new technologies. This research will lead to greater personalized medicine. Dr. Tang’s is one of Canada’s preeminent research leaders in Smart and Functional Materials. In 2013, she received a Grand Challenges Canada Grant for “a handy device for rapid screening of diarrheal pathogens in water: prevention of Diarrhea at its source.” Her most recent research focuses on biomimetic materials and single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT).
Her lab is designing single-walled CNTs biohybrid structures to impart specific biofunctionalities, such as early stage pathogen detection. This research is at the cutting edge of nanotechnology. Their goal is to provide revolutionary new tolls for bio-analysis, drug delivery, disease diagnostics and therapy.
Their research led to the development and patent of a glucometer type device. This patented device feeds samples on a test strip through a filtering membrane, across a receptor field and onto a network of carbon nanotubes. The nanotube bands printed on strips for the device test for pathogens. A chemical interaction between the sample and the receptor produces an electrical signal, which exposes hidden threats. The portable nature of their device allows medical professionals and even patients to administer these tests in the field.
Professor Tang’s believes the primary goal of their research should be to help improve lives through scientific breakthroughs. “Our research will deliver new tools and revoltionize our healthcare system by empowering people to self-diagnose and monitor their own health,” said Professor Shirley Tang. “As we move to a more decentralized medical system it is vital that medical practitioners and patients have the tools to safely administer treatment. More personalized medical will reduce the amount of resources our health care system needs to allocate for drug delivery and disease diagnostics.” Professor Tang said,
"At this point the potential efficiencies our research can provide the medical community are limitless. "
This research is only possible at the University of Waterloo and WIN, because of the collaboration between multiple departments.
“A real strength of WIN is the intense focus on interdisciplinary research. WIN members can discuss challenges and problems they are facing with one another and apply for funding opportunities together,” said Tang.
Professor Shirley Tang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo.
For more stories like this, please see our 2017 - 2018 Annual Report.