Microsystems for drug discovery and biological studies

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Miniaturization of assays in genomics and proteomics led to dramatic improvements in their speed at significantly lower cost, facilitating an explosion in their use in a wide variety of applications. For instance, sequencing a genome costs 10,000$ today as opposed to 100 million$ a decade ago; this has revolutionized many branches of biological research, drug discovery and clinical diagnostics. The next grand challenge in miniaturization of laboratory automation technologies is in handling and manipulating of living biological cells, embryos, larvae and small organisms that would confer the same advantages of speed, cost, accuracy and scale over existing methods. These scalable technologies are critically important in understanding disease process and in drug discovery where model organisms such as Drosophila (fly), C.elegans (worm) and artificial tissue constructs that mimic the natural organization of cells in an organ are being used. For instance, the recently announced Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, to develop technologies to revolutionize our understanding of the organizational principles of the human brain, targets Drosophila and C.elegans for tool developmnt in its first 5 years. My laboratory has recently emerged at the forefront of this nascent field due our established work on the electrically stimulated behavior of C.elegans worms and our more recent findings on the neuronal response of Drosophila larva to auditory stimulus. Also, our recent efforts at adapting the rapidly emerging 3D printing technology to print vascular networks in gels provides a novel way to position cells in specific patterns in 3D to engineer tissue like constructs for biological experimentation. Building on our established work and recent successes, the short-term aim of this research program, is to investigate and understand the fundamental science behind interaction of external stimuli such as electric field, sound or flow with biological living organisms such as C.elegans worms and Drosophila larva. Using that understanding, we will design and engineer innovative Lab-on-Chip devices for biological and drug discovery assays that involve these organisms. We will also develop hybrid microfabrication technologies for the manufacture of artificial tissue like constructs with integrated vascular networks to model disease processes and for use in drug discovery. Over the long term, we will develop integrated microsystems that lower the cost, increase throughput and automate these assays targeted towards specific applications in drug discovery or biological research. By lowering the cost of research and enhancing capability, these systems can significantly enhance the productivity of biological and biomedical researchers.