STTR Phase I: Rapid Blood Typing with a Portable Medical Device

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是创建一个更快，更便携，更实惠和可靠的血型和红细胞浓度测试。这很重要，因为创伤中心和医院广泛依赖美国各地血库提供的献血来挽救生命。目前美国每年有8400万例血型鉴定，每年约有1600万人捐款。每品脱血液的处理成本接近200美元，因此，通过血型预先筛选献血者并选择性地指导献血过程（即血浆、红细胞）的能力将大大节省资金，并支持我们不断下降的血液供应。这种便携式技术也可用于偏远地区的救灾应用。这种血液分析微型设备将通过探索使用电场来识别细胞差异来增强科学和技术理解。此外，潜在的初步经济影响预计将高达每年1200万美元，这将有助于提高美国在创伤、血液治疗和手术等医疗保健领域的竞争力。拟议的项目将在简化目前围绕微流体设备操作的庞大支持电源基础设施方面发挥关键作用。拟议的项目将把细胞反应的光学分析转化为模式算法，通过用户友好的界面输出结果。最后，该项目将联合收割机将两个独立的微流体设备结合成一个与便携式电源和算法接口的单个原型，以同时识别血型和血细胞比容。这项工作推进了科学知识，并将在获得适当的知识产权后出版。它也是昂贵的抗原/抗体分子识别反应的有力替代品，用于医疗诊断，用于未来的床旁诊断应用。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is the creation of a faster, more portable, affordable and reliable blood typing and red blood cell concentration test. This is important because trauma centers and hospitals rely extensively on blood donations provided by blood banks across the U.S. to save lives. There are currently 84 million blood typings per year in the U.S., with approximately 16 million donations annually. Processing costs approach $200 per pint of blood, so the ability to pre-screen donors by blood type and selectively direct the donation process (i.e. plasma, red cells) would result in significant savings and bolster our declining blood supply. This portable technology could also be translated to remote geographical locations for disaster relief applications. This blood analysis microdevice will enhance scientific and technological understanding by exploring the use of electric fields to identify cell differences. In addition, the potential initial economic impact is expected to be up to $12 million per year, which will contribute to the U.S. competitiveness in healthcare including trauma, blood therapies, and surgeries. The proposed project will play a key role in miniaturizing the bulky supporting power supply infrastructure currently surrounding microfluidic device operations. The proposed project will translate optical analysis of cell responses into a pattern algorithm that outputs the result via a user-friendly interface. Lastly, this project will combine two separate microfluidic devices into a single prototype interfacing with the portable power supply and algorithm to simultaneously discern blood type and hematocrit. This work advances scientific knowledge and will be published after securing proper IP. It is also a powerful alternative to expensive antigen/antibody molecular recognition reactions for medical diagnosis for future point of care diagnostic applications.