STTR Phase I: On-chip integration of sample preparation and monitoring with dielectrophoretic cell isolation

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is a platform to isolate cells based on their biophysical properties. The platform will help isolate cells that are not abundant and enable study of their role in biological function and diseases such as cancer. Specifically, a single chip platform will carry out sample preparation, manipulation, and monitoring, greatly reducing the sample handling steps and thereby ensuring the maintenance of cell viability and improvement in sample consistency. This recovered sample is essential for the development of cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine and cancer management. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will develop an electrically functional microfluidic sample manipulation platform for phenotype-selective recovery of cells, based on their biophysical attributes that allow discrimination between distinct electrophysiological properties for the cells of interest within the sample media. Specifically, microfluidic designs will be developed to swap cells from complex biological matrices into an optimized buffer for enabling cell manipulation, and the instrumentation will be developed for on-chip monitoring of the sample during various stages of the phenotype-selective cell recovery process. The designs will be optimized for enhanced levels of selection purity, while maintaining high cell collection efficiencies, so that the recovered sample is enriched for cell phenotypes of interest. 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.