CAREER: Scalable, high-precision optoelectronic lab-on-a-chip towards next-generation precision therapeutics

精确治疗将受益于生物医学设备，这些设备可以获取针对目标患者群体的细胞/分子信息。该研究项目旨在建立可扩展的、高精度的芯片实验室技术，最终将导致下一代精确治疗的工具。这项研究的结果将导致新的工程工具和疾病相关的分析，这可能会对药物筛选，免疫治疗开发和护理点系统产生影响。该提案的教育目标旨在培养和激励具有多学科背景的年轻工程师和科学家，以帮助确定个性化医疗、神经工程和即时护理系统的未来发展轨迹。该项目的更广泛影响包括：1)推进可扩展、高精度芯片实验室系统的变革性设备技术，并为药理学和护理点测试提供强大的工具；2)教育代表性不足的本科生和研究生研究人员，为生物工程和医疗保健领域的国家劳动力需求做出贡献；3)通过周末研讨会和指导当地中学的师生对，为K-12的科学、技术、工程和数学教育做出贡献；4)在当地老年人和神经疾病和免疫疾病支持团体中推广生物科学和生物技术。本提案的研究目标是建立两个具有可扩展制造工艺的高精度光电芯片实验室，旨在为下一代精确治疗提供细胞和分子水平的高含量分析。这两种芯片实验室都将以高度可扩展的阵列形式构建，并分别在培养的神经网络和血液样本中评估它们的精度。这项工作将为神经系统疾病的药物筛选和急性免疫症状患者的即时检测提供充足的研究机会。提出的工作的智力价值将通过三个主要贡献来证明：1)一个可扩展的，高精度的光电芯片实验室，能够精确的光遗传控制，电记录和电场刺激神经活动；2)可扩展、高精度的光电芯片实验室，能够对与免疫应答相关的生物标志物进行多路片上荧光检测；3)利用这两种芯片进行药物筛选和免疫反应监测分析，这将为针对神经和自身免疫性疾病的治疗开发提供启示。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Precision therapeutics will benefit from biomedical devices that can acquire cellular/molecular information specific to targeted patient groups. This research project aims to establish scalable, high-precision lab-on-a-chip technologies that will ultimately lead to enabling tools in next-generation precision therapeutics. The outcome of this research will result in new engineering tools and disease related assays that will likely make an impact in pharmatheutical screening, immunotherapeutic development, and point-of-care systems. The educational objectives of this proposal are aimed at training and inspiring young engineers and scientists who are equipped with the multidisciplinary background required to help define the future trajectory of personalized medicine, neuroengineering, and point-of-care systems. The broader impacts of this project include: 1) advancing transformative device technologies for scalable, high-precision lab-on-a-chip systems and providing powerful tools for pharmatheutics and point-of-care testing; 2) educating underrepresented undergraduate and graduate researchers to contribute to the nation’s workforce needs in bioengineering and healthcare; 3) contributing to the K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education by weekend seminars and mentoring student-teacher pairs from local middle schools; and 4) promoting biological sciences and biotechnology among local senior citizens and support groups for neurological diseases and immunological disorders. The research objective of this proposal is to establish two high-precision optoelectronic lab-on-a-chips built with scalable fabrication process, aiming to offer high-content analysis at cellular and molecular levels towards next-generation precision therapeutics. Both lab-on-a-chips will be built in a highly scalable array form, with their precision being evaluated in cultured neuronal network and blood samples, respectively. The proposed work will open ample research opportunities in drug screening for neurological diseases and point-of-care testing for patients with acute immune symptoms. The intellectual merit of the proposed work will be evidenced by three major contributions: 1) a scalable, high-precision optoelectronic lab-on-a-chip capable of precise optogenetic control, electrical recording, and electrical field stimulation of neural activity; 2) a scalable, high-precision optoelectronic lab-on-a-chip capable of multiplexed on-chip fluorescence detection of biomarkers that are related to immune responses; and 3) drug-screening and immune response monitoring assays using these two lab-on-a-chips, which will shed light on therapeutics development targeted to neurological and autoimmune diseases.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.