IDBR: Development of a High Speed FACS for Sorting BSL3 Infectious Agents

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Project AbstractIntellectual MeritAn award is made to the University of California at Los Angeles to develop a high speed fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) system in order to sort highly infectious and potentially dangerous samples in a biosafety cabinet within a Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) facility to enable for the first time high purity sorting of live BSL3 subcellular organisms. The sorter employs a tightly focused pulsed laser beam to generate an explosive vapor bubble and transient, local, small volume fluid perturbation near target objects to deflect their trajectories in a microchannel into collection or waste outlets. It aims to achieve 90% high purity sort at 100,000 cells/s on a fully enclosed, disposable, microfluidic chip inside a biosafety cabinet to ensure the highest level of biosafety. It requires only one hour to purify 108 cells or subcellular organelles from a population of 109 cells. This project also aims to develop a novel, label free sorter utilizing dielectrophoresis mechanism to pre-purify samples containing various unwanted subcellular organelles and debris.Broad ImpactA BSL 3 compatible high throughput FACS platform will provide paradigm-shifting impacts in studying infectious disease. It will have broad applications from fundamental biological research to clinical applications. Results and expertise developed during the course of this project will also be incorporated into PIs? teaching activities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Minority graduate and undergraduate students will participate in these projects through independent research courses. Students involved in this project will be exposed to an excellent multidisciplinary training environment in UCLA Engineering School and Medical School.