INTEGRATED FERROFLUIDIC MICROCHIP FOR CELL MANIPULATION AND ENRICHMENT

描述(申请人提供)：在这项提案中，我们的目标是开发一种完全集成的铁流体微芯片，通过结合微流体和动态可重新配置的金属丝网线圈，以无标签的方式对生物兼容磁流体内的细胞进行磁性操作和浓缩。本研究的目标是(1)开发铁流控微芯片作为生物医学研究的通用细胞操作平台；(2)开发一种快速、低成本的前端分离方法来丰富宫颈异常细胞，以提高重复性，缩短筛查时间，提高筛查精度。我们计划通过追求三个具体目标来实现这些目标。(1)集成铁流体细胞操作和浓缩微芯片的研制。我们将建模、设计、制造和测试一种新的、多功能的金属丝网线圈，以产生可重新配置的动态磁场图案。设计了一个PDMS微通道，并与丝网线圈集成在一起，形成了原型芯片。(2)该芯片在细胞操作中的有效性演示。我们将为活细胞实验开发生物兼容的磁流体。我们将利用细胞的大小、形状和弹性作为潜在的操纵特征。细胞操作将与活细胞一起进行。(3)芯片在宫颈癌细胞浓缩中的应用。该芯片可以应用于细胞生物学领域，在这些领域，对细胞行为的理解需要分离和操纵某些细胞亚群。 这是一个高度跨学科的研究项目，因为它涉及胶体化学、流体动力学、磁学、电子学、建模和模拟、微制造和癌症生物学等主题。为该项目组建了一个工程科学(佐治亚大学和休斯顿大学)和癌症生物学(疾病控制和预防中心)的跨学科小组。该团队包括4名大学教职员工、1名疾控中心宫颈癌专家、1名疾控中心博士后学者和2名研究生。拟议项目期为3年。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this proposal, we aim to develop a fully integrated ferrofluidic microchip to magnetically manipulate and enrich cells inside bio-compatible ferrofluids in a label-free manner by combining microfluidics and dynamically-reconfigurable wire-mesh coils. Goals of this research are (1) to develop the ferrofluidic microchip as a general cell manipulation platform for biomedical research, and (2) to develop a fast and low-cost front-end separation method to enrich cervical abnormal cells for increased reproducibility, reduced screening time, and improved screening accuracy. We plan to achieve these goals through pursuing three specific aims. (1) Development of integrated ferrofluidic cell manipulation and enrichment microchip. We will model, design, fabricate and test a novel and versatile wire-mesh coil to produce reconfigurable and dynamic magnetic field patterns. A PDMS microchannels will be designed and integrated with the wire-mesh coil to form the prototype chip. (2) Demonstration of the chip's effectiveness in cell manipulation. We will develop bio-compatible ferrofluids for live cell experiments. We will exploit size, shape and elasticity of cells as potenial manipulation characteristics. Cell manipulation will be conducted with live cells. (3) Application of chip in cervical cancer cell enrichment. The chip can be applied in areas in cell biology where understanding of cell behavior requires isolation and manipulation of certain cell subpopulations. This is a highly interdisciplinary research project because it deals with the themes of colloidal chemistry, fluid dynamics, magnetism, electronics, modeling and simulation, microfabrication, and cancer biology. An interdisciplinary team in both engineering sciences (University of Georgia and University of Houston) and cancer biology (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is formed for this project. The team includes 4 university faculty, one CDC cervical cancer expert, one CDC postdoctoral scholar, and two graduate students. The duration of the proposed project period is 3 years.