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/R012318/1
• 负责人: Julie Robidart
• 金额: $ 21.11万
• 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: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FR012318%2F1
• 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.

这项研究将基于英国和日本的先前存在的技术和专业知识来开发和评估一个新系统，这将改善我们可以根据物种特异性遗传序列检测，测量和研究海洋生物学的方式。当前的，列出和分析海洋遗传序列的最佳方法依赖于水样的收集，这些水样将返回到集中且资源丰富的实验室，并由训练有素的技术人员处理和分析。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），并且很昂贵，限制了可以处理的样品数量，并最终降低了我们可以监测海洋生物学的分辨率。现在，这比以往任何时候都更重要，因为海洋对变化的气候和人为影响反应。这项工作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，生物还是它们的残余物，并将其净化到可以准确测量的地步。 “提取瓶颈”。现有的自动样品处理机器人通常是笨重，复杂的，饥饿的，昂贵的，昂贵的，并且不可广泛。芯片（LOC）技术上的微流体实验室减少了传统上在实验室工作台上执行的分析过程的规模。例如，使用微型泵，阀门和光学器件一起进行样品，并将其与一套试剂一起进行，以在当时的一小部分中进行相对复杂的实验室过程，并以最小的样品 /化学消耗和机器人的方式进行相对复杂的实验室，从而避免了对专家的需求。在该项目中，我们将利用LOC技术的优势来解决提取瓶颈，该新型设备将与“前端”采样器和“后端”分析仪交互以形成一个集成的遗传传感器平台。这将针对对人类健康，海洋生态和以海洋为中心的行业非常重要的一系列目标生物的检测和量化进行量身定制。该项目将证明概念证明，LOC遗传提取与现有采样器和分析的整合可以显着改善我们可以监测基本生物学变量的分辨率和易度性。