SBIR Phase I: High Throughput Flowcell for Biosensor Platforms

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发和演示用于各种无标签生物传感平台的高通量流动细胞阵列，但主要是SPR系统。流动电池技术是目前发展高通量无标签传感技术的限制因素。将Wasatch microfluics的连续流动MicrospotterTM改造成高度平行的流动池应该开始消除这一瓶颈，并为更高度平行的系统提供模板。在这个项目中进行的研究将特别帮助我们了解不同泵送技术之间的差异，以及它们与流动电池集成的能力。初步的研究表明，流动细胞阵列可以将普通的SPR成像仪器转化为具有高竞争力的蛋白质分析仪器，与最先进的SPR仪器相比，具有微薄的吞吐量。我们还将了解流动电池技术将如何影响表面等离子体共振（SPR）仪器的传感能力，并将制定优化的基线方案。最终的结果将是一个48通道的流动池，这将是可扩展到更高的吞吐量（192,1536）。这种流动电池将是通用的，这样它就可以很容易地与各种无标签传感技术集成。这项研究和开发工作的最终结果将是一个流量电池阵列，其容量是目前最好的系统的两倍以上，并将为更高密度的系统奠定基础。该技术的广泛影响包括微流体流动电池阵列（MFCA）的商业机会。MFCA将被开发用于与许多其他公司的生物传感平台集成。具体来说，我们将针对用于测量分子相互结合的动力学和亲和常数的无标记技术。这是一个每年1亿美元的市场。从我们与制药公司的讨论来看，更高通量的无标签系统将导致这些技术的更大规模实施和巨大的商业潜力，包括更大的市场。即使是最基本的流动电池也会产生实质性的影响。目前，它需要28小时的旗舰Biacore仪器处理384个样品。同样的384个样品使用我们的新流动电池只需要1小时。这些相同的工具将导致更快、更有效的药物发现过程，最终为美国人民带来更好的健康。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop and demonstrate a high throughput flow cell array for use with a variety of label-free biosensing platforms, but primarily SPR systems. Flow cell technology is currently the limiting factor in the development of high throughput label-free sensing technologies. Modification of Wasatch Microfluidics Continuous Flow MicrospotterTM into a highly parallel flow cell should begin to eliminate this bottleneck and provide a template for even more highly parallel systems. The research performed in this project will specifically help us understand the differences between different pumping technologies and their ability to be integrated with the flow cell. Preliminary work suggests that a flow cell array can convert mediocre SPR imaging instruments into highly-competitive protein analysis instruments comparable to state-of-the-art SPR instruments with meager throughput. We will also develop an understanding of how the flow cell technology will impact the sensing capabilities of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) instrument, and an optimized baseline protocol will be developed. The end result will be a 48 channel flow cell, which will be scalable to much higher throughputs (192, 1536). This flow cell will be generic such that it will be easily integrated with a variety of label-free sensing technologies. The end result of this research and development effort will be a flow cell array with more than double the capacity of the best current systems and will lay the ground work for much higher density systems.The broader impacts of this technology include the commercial opportunities of the microfluidic flow cell array (MFCA). The MFCA will be developed for integration with the biosensing platforms of a number of other companies. Specifically we will target labelfree technologies used to measure kinetic and affinity constants for binding of molecules to one another. This is currently a $100M/year market. From our discussions with pharmaceutical companies, higher throughput label-free systems will lead much larger implementation of these technologies and a significant commercial potential, including a significantly larger market. Even the most basic implementation of our flow cell will have a substantial impact. Currently, it takes the flagship Biacore instrument 28 hrs to process 384 samples. These same 384 samples would only take 1 hr with our new flowcell. These same instruments will then lead to substantially faster and more effective drug discovery processes, and eventually better health for the US population.