Wong Zheng Wei, New Siu Yee
Problem statement: MicroRNAs (miRs) are short single-stranded RNAs that regulate the pathophysiological processes in the body. On the onset of nasopharyngeal cancer, miR-144 is commonly dysregulated, which makes it a potential biomarker to improve current cancer diagnostics. This research proposes the development of a highly sensitive fluorescence biosensing system for the detection of miR-144 based on target-triggered isothermal hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and label-free fluorogenic silver nanoclusters (AgNCs).