# METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORK AS PROTECTIVE COATING FOR CANCER BIOSPECIMEN PRESERVATION

> **NIH NIH R21** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $171,190

## Abstract

Summary
Cancer research and clinical diagnostics for early detection of cancer rely on the availability of high-quality
biofluids such as blood, urine, and saliva. Within these biofluids, the integrity of molecular biomarkers and the
quality of information obtained from their analysis is highly dependent on the storage conditions during pre-
analytical phase. Unfortunately, due to the poor stability of biomolecules (especially proteins) at ambient
temperatures, they are prone to lose their structure and biofunctionality before analysis. Hence, an extensive
distribution network of refrigeration, the “cold chain”, is necessary to maintain an optimal temperature during
transport, storage, and handling of these biospecimens. Apart from causing a huge financial and
environmental burden, the cold chain system is simply not feasible in pre-hospital and resource-limited settings
such as urban and rural clinics, as well as developing countries with low and moderate incomes, where
refrigeration and electricity are not guaranteed. Moreover, when the biofluids are frozen, decrease in
thermodynamic free energy and unfavorable ice crystal-protein interactions can occur during subsequent
thawing, which can further compromise analyte integrity. The above considerations clearly suggest the need
for an alternate approach for preserving molecular biomarkers in biofluids during the pre-analytical stage,
preferably, without the need for refrigeration. In this exploratory project, we propose a novel approach that
involves the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as encapsulants for preserving the integrity of
biomarkers in biofluids under normal (non-refrigerated) storage conditions. The approach suggested here is
transformative in that it completely eliminates the need for refrigeration and avoids unwanted freeze-thaw
cycles and overcomes a huge economic and environmental burden. This energy-efficient and environmentally-
friendly approach not only represents a novel technique to eliminate the cold chain and temperature-controlled
handling of cancer-related biospecimens, but also allows interruptible, storable, and restorable on-demand
detection at a later time in a centralized manner/location to improve the reliability of clinical diagnostics.
Towards this ultimate goal, we will (i) Develop and assess the MOF-based preservation of kidney cancer-
related protein biomarkers in patient urine under fluctuating (unregulated) ambient temperature and humidity
conditions; and (ii) Develop and assess the MOF-based preservation of prostate cancer-related biomarkers in
patient serum/plasma under fluctuating temperature and humidity. Once this early, innovative and exploratory
project is completed, we will have laid the groundwork and partially developed MOF-based interruptible,
storable, and restorable biopreservation approach for cancer-related molecular biomarkers in clinical
biospecimens, which overcomes the refrigeration requirement and enables on-demand bioanalytics in ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9926832
- **Project number:** 5R21CA236652-02
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JEREMIAH J MORRISSEY
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $171,190
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-07 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9926832

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9926832, METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORK AS PROTECTIVE COATING FOR CANCER BIOSPECIMEN PRESERVATION (5R21CA236652-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9926832. Licensed CC0.

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