I-Corps: Development of a wicking fiber cytometer for cell analysis applications

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是探索一种设备在实验室中预测细胞运动和行为的应用。一种应用是在临床环境中简单而快速地评估癌症的侵袭状态，以便为治疗决策提供信息。这也可以用于研究细胞，以设计新的治疗方法。这个i-Corps项目是基于用于通过物理、化学和生物特性分离细胞的芯状纤维的开发。该纤维目前用于非生物医学应用，例如，它们可以在运动服装和面部组织中找到。这些纤维被设计成具有某些特征，比如能够将液体从体内转移出去。人们还发现，纤维移动液体的能力在生物医学应用中是一种优势，无论是在理解细胞行为方面，还是在帮助评估疾病的当前状态方面。例如，如果纤维垂直放置在含有正常细胞和癌细胞的液体中，肿瘤细胞将沿着纤维快速移动，而正常细胞将留在底部。侵袭性较强的癌细胞比侵袭性较弱的癌细胞沿纤维传播的速度更快。这种快速的分化使我们能够更好地了解为什么细胞会以某些方式表现，并利用这些信息来创造改进的生物医学解决方案。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to explore applications of a device to predict cellular movement and behaviors in a laboratory. One application is simple and rapid assessment of the aggressive state of cancer in a clinical setting to inform treatment decisions. This could also be used in research to study cells in order to design new treatments. This I-Corps project is based on the development of wicking fibers for use in separating cells by physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. The fibers are currently used in non-biomedical application, e.g., they may be found in athletic apparel and facial tissue. These fibers are designed with certain features such as the ability to move liquids away from the body. It also has been found that the ability of the fibers to move liquid is an advantage in biomedical applications, both in understanding cell behaviors and in helping assess the current state of a disease. For instance, if fibers are placed vertically in a liquid containing normal and cancerous cells, the tumor cells will move quickly up the fibers, while the normal cells will remain at the bottom. More aggressive cancer cells travel up the fibers more rapidly than less aggressive cells. This rapid differentiation allows us to better understand why cells behave in certain ways and to harness that information to create improved biomedical solutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.