IDBR: TYPE A: An Integrated Microfluidic Platform for Parallel Analysis of Cell Secretome and Cell Responses in Real Time

授予阿克伦大学开发一种新型微流控仪器的奖项，该仪器用于并行分析从细胞分泌的蛋白质（分泌组）和细胞对刺激物的反应，具有高灵敏度和高通量，可真实的时间。 了解细胞分泌的蛋白质的组成对细胞生物学和理解细胞对刺激的反应具有广泛的影响，包括细胞信号传导途径，细胞间通讯和基质重塑。 对分泌体的研究也将影响药物发现和治疗开发，从而改善公共卫生。 该项目的多学科性质预计将激发学生对最先进的芯片实验室设备和先进生物技术的兴趣，并为学生提供培训机会，通过学习新的原理和方法跨越学科界限。 通过阿克伦大学的各种学生计划，将招募本科生，重点是代表性不足的少数民族和妇女，在这个项目中进行研究。 开发的方法和仪器将通过与克利夫兰临床基金会干细胞和再生医学中心和东北俄亥俄州再生和转化医学中心的合作，积极推广到生物研究界。 通过与阿克伦大学研究基金会的NSF I-Corps网站合作，该仪器将得到进一步开发，并将探索商业化的机会。迄今为止，用于细胞分泌组和细胞反应分析的常规方法需要繁琐的程序，长的测定时间和庞大复杂的检测仪器。此外，还没有现有的仪器能够真实的实时地进行多个细胞分泌和应答的平行测定。 在该项目中，将开发一种微流控仪器，包括用于快速细胞分离而不污染样品的温敏培养室，用于细胞分泌物的高灵敏度分析的创新免疫解聚测定，以及用于分析各种细胞对刺激的反应的无标记磁珠测定，以解决这些问题。一个多路复用的微检测阵列将用于实现高通量，同时测量细胞分泌和细胞反应。

An award is made to the University of Akron to develop a novel microfluidic instrument for parallel analysis of proteins secreted from cells (secretomes) and cell responses to stimuli in real time, with high sensitivity and high throughput. Understanding the composition of proteins secreted from cells has broad impacts on cell biology and the understanding of cellular responses to stimuli, including cellular signaling pathways, intercellular communications, and matrix remodeling. The study of secretomes will also impact drug discovery and therapy development, which will lead to improved public health. The multidisciplinary nature of this project is expected to stimulate students' interest in state-of-the-art lab-on-a-chip devices and advanced biotechnology, and offer training opportunities for students to cross their discipline boundaries by learning new principles and methods. Through various student programs at University of Akron, undergraduate students will be recruited, with an emphasis on underrepresented minorities and women, to conduct research in this project. The developed methods and the instrument will be actively promoted to the biological research community via the collaborations with the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the Northeast Ohio Center for Regenerative and Translational Medicine. Through working with NSF I-Corps site at the University of Akron Research Foundation, this instrument will be further developed and commercialization opportunity will be explored.Thus far, conventional methods for cell secretome and cell response analysis require tedious procedures, long assay times, and bulky, complicated detection instruments. In addition, there is no existing instrument that can perform parallel assays of multiple cell secretions and responses in real time. In this project a microfluidic instrument consisting of a thermo-responsive culture chamber for rapid cell detachment without sample contamination, an innovative immuno-disaggregation assay for highly sensitive analysis of cell secretomes, and a label-free magnetic bead assay for analyzing various cell responses to stimuli will be developed to address the issues.. A multiplexed micro detection array will be used to enable high throughput, simultaneous measurements of cell secretomes and cell responses.