IDBR: TYPE A: An Integrated Microfluidic Platform for Parallel Analysis of Cell Secretome and Cell Responses in Real Time

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An award is made to the University of Akron to develop a novel microfluidic instrument for parallel analysis of proteins secreted from cells (secretomes) and cell responses to stimuli in real time, with high sensitivity and high throughput. Understanding the composition of proteins secreted from cells has broad impacts on cell biology and the understanding of cellular responses to stimuli, including cellular signaling pathways, intercellular communications, and matrix remodeling. The study of secretomes will also impact drug discovery and therapy development, which will lead to improved public health. The multidisciplinary nature of this project is expected to stimulate students' interest in state-of-the-art lab-on-a-chip devices and advanced biotechnology, and offer training opportunities for students to cross their discipline boundaries by learning new principles and methods. Through various student programs at University of Akron, undergraduate students will be recruited, with an emphasis on underrepresented minorities and women, to conduct research in this project. The developed methods and the instrument will be actively promoted to the biological research community via the collaborations with the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the Northeast Ohio Center for Regenerative and Translational Medicine. Through working with NSF I-Corps site at the University of Akron Research Foundation, this instrument will be further developed and commercialization opportunity will be explored.Thus far, conventional methods for cell secretome and cell response analysis require tedious procedures, long assay times, and bulky, complicated detection instruments. In addition, there is no existing instrument that can perform parallel assays of multiple cell secretions and responses in real time. In this project a microfluidic instrument consisting of a thermo-responsive culture chamber for rapid cell detachment without sample contamination, an innovative immuno-disaggregation assay for highly sensitive analysis of cell secretomes, and a label-free magnetic bead assay for analyzing various cell responses to stimuli will be developed to address the issues.. A multiplexed micro detection array will be used to enable high throughput, simultaneous measurements of cell secretomes and cell responses.