Raman Flow Cytometry for Diagnostics and Drug Discovery

描述（由申请人提供）：对生物系统进行定量、高通量分子测量的能力是许多生物医学研究领域的关键需求。该生物工程研究合作伙伴关系（BRP）旨在开发基于拉曼流式细胞术的高通量筛选和选择的强大的新分析平台。该合作伙伴关系将开发新的分析仪器，用于化学合成和筛选的光学编码聚合物树脂，以及用于敏感报告和编码的具有独特光学特性的纳米结构材料。这项新技术将对流动中的单个粒子进行拉曼光谱分析，从而在敏感的多路检测、药物发现和诊断中实现新的应用。拉曼流式细胞仪仪器及其应用将由来自学术界、政府和工业界的工程师、生物学家和化学家合作开发。在合作的第一年，我们将修改一个商业粒子分选器，以检测单个粒子的单个拉曼振动带，并根据它们的光学特征对这些粒子进行分类。在2-5年，我们将培养从单个粒子收集和分析完整拉曼光谱的能力。同时，该伙伴关系将开发用于多路分子分析和分离的新的编码和报告策略。这种拉曼流式细胞术技术将应用于细菌病原体及其毒素的治疗和诊断的开发。拉曼流式细胞术将是一种重要的、通用的新型分析和分离能力，它将影响基础和应用生物医学研究的许多领域。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to make quantitative, high throughput molecular measurements of biological systems is a critical need for many areas of biomedical research. This Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) aims to develop a powerful new analytical platform for high throughput screening and selection based on Raman Flow Cytometry. This Partnership will develop new analytical instrumentation, optically encoded polymer resins for chemical synthesis and screening, and nanostructured materials with unique optically properties for sensitive reporting and encoding. The new technology will perform Raman spectroscopy on single particles in flow to enable new applications in sensitive multiplexed detection, drug discovery, and diagnostics. The Raman Flow Cytometry instrumentation, and applications will be developed by a Partnership involving engineers, biologists, and chemists from academia, government and industry. In the first year of the Partnership, we will modify a commercial particle sorter to detect individual Raman vibrational bands from single particles and sort these particles based on their optical signature. In Years 2-5, we will develop the ability to collect and analyze complete Raman spectra from single particles. In parallel, the Partnership will develop new encoding and reporting strategies for multiplexed molecular analysis and separation. This Raman Flow Cytometry technology will be applied to the development of therapeutics and diagnostics for bacterial pathogens and their toxins. Raman Flow Cytometry will be an important and general new analytical and separation capability that will impact many areas of basic and applied biomedical research in addition to the applications proposed here.