Narrator: This is Science Today. Using nanotechnology platforms to treat, understand and monitor cancer is the goal of seven Centers for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence. One of these national centers has been established at the University of California , San Diego and includes partnerships with other campuses, including the University of California , Riverside , where electrical engineer, Mihri Ozkan, is contributing her research of microelectrical arrays.

Ozkan: Microelectrical arrays is basically these little metal plates that are in the order of human hair size diameter. This mainly is to try to sense the electrical activity possibly coming from different types of cells.

Narrator: Ozkan has already identified electrical activity differences in certain cells, and has created a library of different signature patterns.

Ozkan: We want to apply this for the cancer research. Wwill just carry out this same principal to a smaller scale and see if we can sense this in a more sensitive way.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.