A micromachining fluidic cantilever for single cell advanced patch clamping and cellular characterization using atomic force microscopy

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Single patch clamping is used to multiple areas of biology such as cardiology (cardiomyocytes), neurology/neuroscience (neurons), endocrinology (pancreatic beta cells), myology (muscle fibers), and even microbiology (bacterial ion channels). Applied Nanostructures (AppNano) in partnership with the Icahn School of Medicine is bringing to the market a unique solution addressing a major market need in electrophysiology measurements. With its advanced features and unmatched resolution, the device will enable researchers in academia and in the highly competitive life sciences industry to answer important scientific questions and develop and test new drugs fueling the discovery of new pharmaceutical solutions. As a result, these companies will be better equipped to keep up with the ever-increasing consumer demand for pharmaceutical products. In this SBIR we are developing a semi-automated system based on an micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor pipette used with atomic force microscopes (AFM) that can measure, simultaneously and directly, electrophysiological properties (such as action potentials (AP)), contractile forces on single cardiomyocytes (CM), and single cell elasticity. This system offers high content analysis (HCA) at a single cell level. The system enables a significant increase in performance and a dramatic decrease in time to complete a measurement. With times <5 min compared to conventional patch clamping (2-4 hours) achieved by leveraging micromachining and advanced atomic force microscopy (force spectroscopy). The proposed system will simplify patch clamping measurements and require minimal training. This system will make it reasonably easy for any laboratory technician to conduct these measurements, in contrast to conventional patch clamping, which has a steep learning curve and requires a PhD-level scientist. In addition to action potential and contraction force, we can also evaluate the viscoelastic and adhesive properties of the cells. Our device will be capable of addressing a critical bottleneck in drug discovery that arises during the final characterization of drug candidates. The device can detect single cell changes that would otherwise be masked when averaged over large populations, offering the advantage of measuring rare events, such as toxicity indicators that affect the beating phenotype or action potential (AP) of subpopulations of CMs. This tool finds applications in: drug evaluation/discovery, in the study of Cardiomyocytes (CM) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (CM-iPSCs), as a general patch- clamping tool, and in clinical settings. In the setting of personalized medicine, for example, the tool allows for interrogation of enough iPSC-CM (generated from a patient’s tissue sample for instance) to produce statistically meaningful results within several minutes that would indicate an individual’s reaction to a specific drug. Additionally this tool finds application in the study to other types of cardiotoxic effects and in other fields of biomedical research that use electrophysiology (patch clamping), such as neuroscience/neurology and endocrinology.