Instrumenting the Fetal Membrane on a Chip

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The first time the immune system can respond to a pathogen is in utero during infections of the fetal membrane. Infection involving the fetal membranes is extremely difficult to study in utero, both because of inaccessibility and the nature of the complicated interface between mother and child. Thus, studies of pregnancy-related conditions benefit from an in vitro model of the fetal membrane, i.e., a highly instrumented fetal membrane on a chip (IFMOC). Specifically, the overarching goal of this research project is to apply multidimensional analytical technologies and microfluidics engineering design to define immune response biosignatures of infection in the in vitro fetal membrane. Given these signatures, our ultimate long-range goal for this bench-to-bedside research program is to develop a simple, inexpensive, and robust lab-on-a-chip system that will permit accurate etiologic diagnosis of infections early during the course of illness based on systemic host-response signatures of infection. We will also utilize sensitive and specific methodologies to differentiate acute infections from pre-existing chronic infections and/or asymptomatic microbial colonization. This work will be based on a fundamental understanding of the human systems biology of infectious diseases and will benefit from recent advances in organ-on-chip microfluidics, optical, amperometric, and enzymatic sensors, and mass spectrometry. Our initial multianalyte sensor profiles are focused on cellular bioenergetics using glucose consumption and lactate production and oxidative burst by superoxide production measured by our microfabricated amperometric sensors as well as MIC-1 protein secretion by the quartz crystal microbalance; subsequently these signatures will be expanded with ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS).