Integrated microfluidic platform for cell culture and characterization

在这个跨学科的研究项目中，一种新型的微流体系统将被开发出来，在一个自动化的便携式平台上培养、表征、成像和筛选细胞，对改善医疗保健有很大的潜在影响。作为基于细胞的测试的新范例，这个微尺度平台有望提供一个简单的，可扩展的工具，应用于细胞反应分析中使用的标准化协议。在药物发现期间的高通量药物筛选或患者特异性筛选中获得有意义数据的一个重要因素是具有概括体内环境的细胞培养环境。与分子和细胞生物学中常用的二维单层细胞培养方法相比，这种方法将具有三维（3-D）细胞培养的特点，其中细胞被嵌入模拟细胞外基质的材料中。这项研究将把这种基于水凝胶的细胞培养方法与芯片上的微流体流动控制相结合，以实现精确的流体处理。通过集成泵和阀门，以及纳升培养室阵列，这项工作将实现几个研究途径：

In this interdisciplinary research program, a novel microfluidic system will be developed to culture, characterize, image, and screen cells within a single automated, portable platform, with large potential impact to improve health care. As a new paradigm for cell-based testing, this microscale platform promises to provide a simple, scalable tool to apply standardized protocols used in cellular response assays. One factor essential to obtaining meaningful data in either high-throughput drug screening during drug discovery, or in patient-specific screening, is to have a cell culture environment which recapitulates the in vivo environment. In contrast to the two-dimensional monolayer-based method of cell culture commonly used in molecular and cell biology, this approach will feature three-dimensional (3-D) cell culture, in which cells are embedded in a material that mimics the extracellular matrix. This research will combine this hydrogel-based method of culturing cells with on-chip microfluidic flow control for precise fluid handling. By integrating pumps and valves, along with arrays of nanoliter culture chambers, this work will enable several avenues of research: