Platform technology for blood diagnostics integrating microneedle blood sampling and quantum-dot based multiplexed assays

血液是实验室医学和诊断中最有用的液体样本。最常见的方法是将针插入手臂的静脉（静脉穿刺）。在美国，每年进行超过20亿次静脉穿刺，这是一项需要熟练人员的技术。静脉穿刺通常伴随疼痛、不适和瘀伤，对于静脉细小、脆弱或“深”的人（如肥胖）、婴儿以及需要重复取样时最为困难。我们提出了一种替代方案，它将最大限度地减少不适和瘀伤，不需要高技能的人员，而且安全易行。我们的项目结合了一系列微小的针头（微针），这些针头可以作为“贴片”放置在皮肤表面，以收集少量血液。这种微针几乎不会引起不适，造成瘀伤的风险很低，而且可以由病人或非医务人员使用。当血液被收集时，它将流入一个“手机上的芯片实验室”设备，在那里血液测试将使用新的高灵敏度荧光探针自动进行。这些测试将包括与心血管疾病相关的蛋白质生物标志物的免疫分析，部分与我们的行业合作伙伴合作，以及血液凝固因子活性的分析。该平台的结果可以立即以电子方式发送给患者和医生。本研究建立在微针阵列和荧光探针分别成功的初步应用基础上。我们现在将进一步开发和结合这些创新的方法，用于急需的医疗用途，与标准的静脉穿刺方法进行比较，并最终计划使用这些设备同时进行多项测试。与目前的方法相比，这种方法的好处将是巨大的：一种无痛、安全和用户友好的抽血和检测方法，可以快速向卫生专业人员和患者报告结果。

Blood is the most useful sample fluid for lab medicine and diagnostics. It is most oftenobtained by inserting a needle in a vein in the arm (venipuncture). In the US, over 2 billionvenipunctures are performed annually and is a technique that requires skilled personnel.Venipuncture is often associated with pain, discomfort and bruising, and is most difficult inpersons with small, fragile, or "deep" veins (e.g. obesity), in babies, and when repeatedsampling is needed. We propose an alternative that will minimize discomfort and bruising, willnot require highly skilled personnel, and will be safe and easy.Our project combines an array of tiny needles (microneedles) that can be placed as a "patch"on the surface of the skin to collect small amounts of blood. The microneedles cause littlediscomfort, have a very low risk of causing bruising, and can be applied by the patient or anon-medical person. As the blood is collected, it will flow into a "lab-on-a-chip-on-a-phone"device, where the blood tests will automatically be performed using new and highly sensitivefluorescent probes. These tests will include immunoassays for protein biomarkers associatedwith cardiovascular disease, partially in collaboration with our industry partner, as well asassays of the activities of blood coagulation factors. Results from this platform can beimmediately and electronically sent to the patient and physician.This research builds on successful preliminary applications with the microneedle arrays andfluorescent probes separately. We will now further develop and combine these innovativemethods for a much-needed medical use, make comparisons to the standard venipunctureapproach, and ultimately plan to perform many tests simultaneously with the devices. Thebenefits over current methods will be substantial: a painless, safe and user-friendly way todraw and test blood, with rapid reporting of results to health professionals and patients.