SBIR Phase I: Electrophysiology and fluidic delivery with a nano patch-clamp probe

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在开发一种微机械膜片钳探头，该探头能够在纳米级实现亚细胞成像、电生理学和流体传输，并在PN水平控制施加的力。该探头可以像测力手指一样工作，感知接触和膜破裂，不再损害细胞。小孔允许微注入和询问离子通道。还可以获得其他信息，如成像、离子通道定位/测绘和弹性成像。该探测器将为细胞的工作提供新的见解。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是解决日益增长的对研究单个活细胞的结构和功能的工具的需求。膜片钳和微量注射器是研究细胞活动不可或缺的工具。然而，这些工具存在许多问题，如损坏细胞和缺乏分辨率，而最近的创新未能解决这些问题。建议的纳米膜片钳解决了这些问题，并使基础或临床研究和药物发现的单细胞分析(SCA)成为可能。微机械膜片钳可以成为SCA的多功能工具，它在诊断、理解疾病和发现新药方面具有直接意义。由于临床试验的成本在数十亿美元左右，SCA为研究人员提供了一种廉价的方法，在动物或人类试验之前，可以在细胞上快速、无害地测试和筛选候选药物。与此同时，在患者身上测试的新的个性化治疗方法？S自己的细胞，而不是一刀切的治疗方法，很有可能在未来有效地治疗疾病。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a micromachined patch-clamp probe that enables sub-cellular imaging, electrophysiology, and fluidic delivery at the nanoscale with control of applied force at pN levels. The probe can operate like a force sensing finger to sense contact & membrane rupture, no longer damaging cells. The small aperture allows for micro-injections and interrogation of ion channels. Additional information such as imaging, ion channel localization/mapping, and elastography can be obtained. The probe will provide new insights in the workings of cells. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to address the increasing need for tools to study the structure and function of single living cells. Patch clamps and micro-injectors are indispensible tools for studying cellular activity. However, these tools are plagued with numerous problems, such as damaging cells and lack of resolution, which recent innovations fail to address. The proposed nano-patch clamp addresses these problems and enables single cell analysis (SCA) for basic or clinical studies and drug discovery. The micro-machined patch clamp can become a versatile tool for SCA, which has direct implications in diagnostics, understanding disorders, and the discovery of new drugs. With the costs of clinical trials in the billion dollar range, SCA offers researchers an inexpensive way to quickly and harmlessly test and screen drug candidates on cells before testing on animals or humans. At the same time, new personalized treatments tested on the patient?s own cells, rather than one-size-fits-all treatments, have an excellent likelihood of effectively treating diseases in the future.