Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory are developing methods which may, one day, provide a new tool in the fight against breast and prostate cancers.

Ryszard Jankowiak, Ames Lab scientist and Kansas State University professor, said the methods, which are in preliminary stages, could be used to detect biomarkers — which indicate cancer — in bodily fluids earlier than previously possible.

“We have discovered biomarkers which might be involved with breast and prostate cancer,” he said. “Estrogen metabolites might be involved with the development of cancer.”

Jankowiak said the preliminary results of human testing are positive, but people should not get their hopes up prematurely.

“A lot of work has to be done,” he said. “This has to be proven. It has to be tested on thousands of people.”

Jankowiak said a complex process, called the first-come, first-served approach, has been specifically designed to detect the estrogen-derived biomarkers.

The method includes biosensors with fluorescent imaging, which can detect very small amounts of the biomarkers.

Jankowiak said the process would be very accurate in detecting cancer because researchers have developed a reporter molecule that can help in determining whether the biomarkers exist in bodily fluids.

The research being conducted at Ames Lab is in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

“The University of Nebraska Medical Center are basically supplying samples or using tools that were developed here,” said Kerry Gibson, media relations at Ames Lab. “They’re providing the human sample.”

Gibson said the project is being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s division of Environmental Sciences.

“[These are] highly selective methodologies. Our imaging methods will be very precise,” he said. “They are specifically designed for these biomarkers.”

The method which detects cancer is part of a complicated process called dynamic multiple equilibrium gradients, which has many applications.

According to a press release, other applications might include “chemical, biological and biomedical sciences as well as environmental monitoring, biological warfare detection, drug detection and more.”

These uses, as well as the crystallization of proteins and the possible desalinization of salt water, make the process incredibly versatile, Jankowiak said.

“I’m using a similar DMEG approach for desalinization of salt water,” Jankowiak said.

Jankowiak received a grant to conduct further research by NASA’s Office of Naval Research.