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

阿克伦大学（University of Akron）开发了一种新型微流体仪器，用于并行分析细胞（分泌组）分泌的蛋白质和细胞对刺激的实时反应，具有高灵敏度和高通量。了解细胞分泌的蛋白质的组成对细胞生物学和理解细胞对刺激的反应具有广泛的影响，包括细胞信号通路、细胞间通讯和基质重塑。对分泌组的研究也将影响药物的发现和治疗的发展，从而改善公众健康。该项目的多学科性质旨在激发学生对最先进的芯片实验室设备和先进生物技术的兴趣，并为学生提供通过学习新原理和方法来跨越学科界限的培训机会。通过阿克伦大学的各种学生项目，本科生将被招募，重点是代表性不足的少数民族和女性，来进行这个项目的研究。通过与克利夫兰诊所基金会干细胞和再生医学中心以及东北俄亥俄再生和转化医学中心的合作，开发的方法和仪器将积极推广到生物研究界。通过与阿克伦大学研究基金会的美国国家科学基金会I-Corps网站合作，该仪器将进一步开发并探索商业化机会。到目前为止，传统的细胞分泌组和细胞反应分析方法需要繁琐的程序，长时间的分析和庞大，复杂的检测仪器。此外，目前还没有一种仪器可以实时对多种细胞分泌物和反应进行平行分析。在这个项目中，将开发一个微流控仪器，包括一个热反应培养室，用于快速脱离细胞而不污染样品，一个创新的免疫分解试验，用于高灵敏度分析细胞分泌组，以及一个无标记磁珠试验，用于分析各种细胞对刺激的反应，以解决这些问题。多路微检测阵列将用于实现高通量，同时测量细胞分泌组和细胞反应。

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.