SBIR Phase I: A Nanofluidic Instrument for High-throughput Single-molecule Analysis

SBIR 第一阶段：用于高通量单分子分析的纳流仪器

• 批准号: 1142552
• 负责人: Deborah Mahoney
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Odyssey Scientific, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1142552&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Nanofluidic; Instrument; throughput

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a commercial nanofluidic chip for the rapid identification of epigenetic marks on individual molecules. The instrument will dramatically improve existing methods of epigenomic analysis by removing two major limitations of the current technology. The proposed device will enable automated quantification of multiple epigenetic marks simultaneously using minute inputs of chromatin and high throughput single molecule observations. The approach involves measuring distinct fluorescent signals from antibodies bound specifically to epigenetic marks on individual chromatin fragments that are electrophoretically transported through lasers focused within a nanoscale fluidic channel. The objectives of this proposal are to transform this laboratory setup into a prototype commercial product by increasing the throughput using parallel fluidic channels and transforming to a free space optical system. It is anticipated that this Phase I proposal will result in the fabrication of devices containing 96 parallel nanofluidic channels and the design of the free space optical system that will facilitate this transformation.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it will result in commercially available products that overcome two key limitations of current epigenomic technology. Current technology requires an abundant amount of input material and can query only one epigenetic mark at a time. The proposed single molecule analytical methods can overcome both of these limitations. It is anticipated that this effort will yield a new disruptive epigenomics technology to serve commercial, academic, and clinical needs. By developing an automated instrument that can interrogate multiple epigenetic marks simultaneously on single chromatin molecules extracted from very small inputs of cells, this technology will enable epigenomic analyses that are far more information rich and lower in cost than is currently possible.

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在开发一种商业纳米流控芯片，用于快速识别单个分子上的表观遗传标记。通过消除当前技术的两个主要限制，该仪器将极大地改进现有的表观基因组分析方法。建议的设备将使用微量的染色质输入和高通量的单分子观察，同时实现对多个表观遗传标记的自动量化。该方法包括测量特定结合到单个染色质片段上的表观遗传标记的抗体的不同荧光信号，这些染色质片段通过聚焦在纳米级流体通道内的激光进行电泳传输。这项提议的目标是通过使用并行流体通道增加吞吐量并转换为自由空间光学系统，将该实验室装置转变为原型商业产品。预计这一第一阶段的提案将导致包含96个平行纳米流体通道的装置的制造和自由空间光学系统的设计，以促进这一转变。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，它将导致商业上可用的产品，克服目前表观基因组技术的两个关键限制。目前的技术需要大量的输入材料，并且一次只能查询一个表观遗传标记。所提出的单分子分析方法可以克服这两个限制。预计这一努力将产生一种新的颠覆性表观基因组学技术，以满足商业、学术和临床需求。通过开发一种自动化仪器，可以同时询问从非常小的细胞输入中提取的单个染色质分子上的多个表观遗传标记，这项技术将使表观基因组分析成为可能，比目前可能的分析具有更多的信息丰富和更低的成本。