Collaborative Research: NanoCytometry: A Point-of-Care Technology for Monitoring Chronic Leukemia Patients

本提案的目标是开发一种纳米细胞计（一个孔加微流控芯片和传感器），根据细胞的大小、类型和膜身份进行分类。这项工作将继续构建阵列纳米细胞计。长期的研究目标是为白血病和其他慢性疾病提供一个快速、方便的护理点诊断系统。当小的血液样本通过纳米大小的孔时，这些孔的表面覆盖着某些蛋白质，细胞表面的相互作用，流速和细胞的大小可以导致细胞计数和它们的识别。细胞通过孔所产生的电子信号，其大小和时间间隔可作为细胞数量、大小和类型的指示。基于这一事件的物理性质，研究人员将首先开发纳米多孔结构阵列，并演示他们的假设，最后将其与微流体和电子传感能力相结合。这项研究更广泛的影响包括三位女性调查员之间的合作，她们都是不同领域的专家。调查人员描述了鼓励年轻女性和少数民族从事工程、科学和数学的活动。由这个团队领导这些活动将为参与者提供榜样。描述了一个暑期科学营，让学生获得在纳米细胞计上进行研究的经验。更广泛的社会影响嵌入在这项研究的目标中——慢性病的护理点诊断设备。

CBET-0651799 Sohn The goal of this proposal is to develop a NanoCytometer (a pore plus microfluidic chip and sensor) to sort cells by size, type and membrane identity. The work will continue to construct an array NanoCytometer. The long term research goal is provide a point of care diagnostic system for leukemia and other chronic diseases, rapidly and conveniently. When small blood samples pass through nano-sized pores whose surfaces are coated with certain proteins, cell-surface interactions, the rate of flow and size of cells can lead to counting of cells and their recognition. The electronic signal due to the passage of cells thru the pore, its magnitude and time interval can used as indications of cell count, size and type. Based on this physics of this event, the investigators will first develop nano-porous structure arrays, and demonstrate their hypothesis, and finally integrate it with microfluidics and electronic sensing capabilities. The broader impact of this research includes the collaboration among three female investigators, each an expert in a different field. The investigators describe activities to encourage young women and minorities to engage in engineering, science and mathematics. Leadership of these activities by this team will provide role-model examples for the participants. A summer science camp is described for students to gain experience on research performed on the proposed NanoCytometer. Broader societal impact is embedded in the goal of this research--- a point of care diagnostic device for chronic diseases.