Alleviating the "Sample to Sequence" Bottleneck Using Novel Microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip Nucleic Acid Extraction Technologies

利用新型微流控芯片实验室核酸提取技术缓解“样本到测序”瓶颈

• 批准号: NE/R012318/2
• 负责人: Julie Robidart
• 金额: $ 10.61万
• 依托单位: NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY CENTRE
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FR012318%2F2
• 关键词: Alleviating; Sample; Sequence; Bottleneck; Using

This research will develop and evaluate a new system, based on pre-existing technology and expertise within the UK and Japan, which will improve the way in which we can detect, measure and study ocean biology based on species-specific genetic sequences. Current, best methods for the identification, enumeration and analysis of genetic sequences in the ocean rely upon the collection of water samples, which are returned to a centralized and highly resourced laboratory where they are processed and analyzed by highly trained technical staff. This takes time, delaying potentially important results (e.g. the presence and quantity of harmful species), and is expensive, limiting the number of samples that can be processed and ultimately reducing the resolution with which we can monitor ocean biology. This is now more important than ever as the oceans respond to changing climatic and anthropogenic influences. A key limiting step in this endeavor is the process of removing genetic material from the sample, whether it be whole cells, organisms or their remnants, and purifying it to the point at which it can be measured accurately; the 'extraction bottleneck.' Existing, automated sample processing robots are typically bulky, complicated, power hungry, prohibitively expensive, and not widely available. Microfluidic Lab on a Chip (LOC) technologies reduce the scale of analytical processes traditionally performed on a lab bench. For example, miniature pipes (typically one tenth of a millimetre across) together with miniature pumps, valves and optics are used to take in sample, and manipulate it along with a suite of reagents to undertake a relatively complex laboratory process in a fraction of the time with minimal sample / chemical consumption and robotically, thus obviating the need for a specialist. In this project, we will capitalize upon the advantages of LOC technology to address the extraction bottleneck with a novel device that will interface with 'front-end' samplers and 'back-end' analyzers to form an integrated, genetic sensor platform. This will be tailored for the detection and quantification of a range of target organisms of high importance to human health, ocean ecology and ocean-centric industries. The project will demonstrate proof of concept that the integration of LOC genetic extraction with existing samplers and analytics can significantly improve the resolution and ease with which we can monitor fundamental biological variables.

这项研究将开发和评估一个新的系统，基于英国和日本现有的技术和专业知识，这将改善我们根据物种特异性基因序列探测、测量和研究海洋生物的方式。目前，识别、计数和分析海洋遗传序列的最佳方法是收集水样，然后将水样送回资源丰富的中央实验室，由训练有素的技术人员进行处理和分析。这需要时间，延迟了潜在的重要结果（例如有害物种的存在和数量），并且价格昂贵，限制了可以处理的样本数量，最终降低了我们可以监测海洋生物的分辨率。这一点现在比以往任何时候都更加重要，因为海洋要对不断变化的气候和人类影响作出反应。这一奋进中的一个关键限制步骤是从样品中去除遗传物质的过程，无论是整个细胞，生物体还是它们的残余物，并将其纯化到可以精确测量的程度;“提取瓶颈”。“现有的自动化样品处理机器人通常体积庞大，复杂，耗电量大，价格昂贵，而且无法广泛使用。微流控芯片实验室（Microfluidic Lab on a Chip，简称CUP）技术减少了传统上在实验室工作台上进行的分析过程的规模。例如，微型管道（通常为十分之一毫米宽）连同微型泵、阀门和光学器件一起用于获取样品，并连同一套试剂一起沿着操纵样品，以在一小部分时间内以最小的样品/化学品消耗和机器人方式进行相对复杂的实验室过程，从而消除了对专家的需要。在这个项目中，我们将利用生物传感器技术的优势，通过一种新的设备来解决提取瓶颈问题，该设备将与“前端”采样器和“后端”分析器连接，形成一个集成的遗传传感器平台。这将专门用于检测和量化一系列对人类健康、海洋生态和以海洋为中心的工业非常重要的目标生物。该项目将证明，将遗传学提取与现有的采样器和分析相结合，可以显着提高我们监测基本生物变量的分辨率和易用性。