Micro/Nanofluidic Tools for Molecular Analysis and Diagnosis

Jongyoon Han, PhD, Associate Professor, EECS, BE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Various biological fluids (serum, urine, amniotic fluid, cerebrospinal fluid) contain information (molecular markers) that could be correlated with human health and other conditions of biological systems. However, tools to analyze these molecules still leave much to be desired, due to the complexity of these samples and low concentration levels of these biomarkers. In this talk, Jongyoon Hanwill show microfluidic / nanofluidic tools that can improve our ability to fractionate these complex samples, concentrate target molecules for better detection, and enhance biochemical reactions for potential diagnostics. These tools are especially crucial for protein biomarker detection, where specific amplification chemistry such as PCR is not available.

Microscale Manipulation of Cells and Their Environment for Cell Sorting and Stem Cell Biology

Joel Voldman, PhD, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, EECS Department, MIT

Microsystems have the potential to impact biology by providing new ways to manipulate cells and the microenvironment around them. Simply physically manipulating cells or their environment—using microfluidics, electric fields, or optical forces—provides new ways to separate cells and organize cell-cell interactions. For example, Joel Voldman's lab has been developing methods that use electrical and optical forces to sort cells following microscopic imaging, enabling screens based upon complex phenotypic information such as dynamics and localization. The lab has also developed a continuous-flow cell separation technology that separates cells according to their electrical properties in a size-independent fashion, which it is using for label-free sorting and characterization of cells based upon intrinsic markers. Voldman's lab has developed a suite of technologies for manipulating cells and their environment in order to control embryonic stem cell self-renewal, differentiation, and reprogramming. For instance, it has developed a simple microfluidic device that uses capture “cups” and a three-step back-and-forth loading procedure to pair thousands of cells in parallel in order to study cell fusion for reprogramming of cells. These tools provide news ways to exploit cells’ potential for both basic science and applied biotechnology.

Integrated Silicon Micro-fluidic Devices for Detection of Bacteria

Rashid Bashir, PhD, Abel Bliss Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering & Bioengineering and Director, Micro and Nano Technology Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Microfluidic CD4 Cell Counting for Resource-Limited Settings

William Rodriguez, MD, Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital Infectious Disease Unit; Global Health Diagnostics, Harvard’s Partners AIDS Research Center, MGH

The HIV pandemic has created an unprecedented global health emergency. In response, the price of effective, life-saving HIV drug treatment has been reduced by 99%. More than $10 billion is now invested each year to treat people suffering from HIV and AIDS, and 3 million people have started treatment in the past five years.

Treatment is only half the battle, however. Of the 33 million people living with HIV worldwide, fewer than 10% have access to CD4 counts, the critical blood test used by clinicians to decide when to start treatment. Fewer than 1% have access to viral load assays, which are used for infant diagnosis and for patient monitoring. Both tests are considered essential to effective treatment. The Use Case for appropriate CD4 and viral load tests appropriate for resource-limited settings is clear: tests need to be performed by a minimally skilled health worker, at the true point of care, reliably and inexpensively, and with reasonable accuracy and precision. The HIV pandemic thus represents an unprecedented opportunity to drive technology development in point-of-care diagnostics.

Based on this Use Case, William Rodriguez's lab has developed a series of technologies for an integrated CD4 cell count device, with microfluidics as the key platform. First, it developed a microfluidic device for CD4 cell capture, based on cell immunoaffinity chromatography.  Next, it developed an inexpensive, non-optical sensor based on cell lysate impedance spectroscopy. Integrative these microfluidic technologies has led to a prototype handheld device that can accurately capture CD4 cells from a 10 microliter fingerstick sample of whole blood, and accurately measure CD4 counts in under eight minutes.

High-throughput On-chip Small-animal Screening for in vivo Genetic/compound Discoveries

Mehmet Fatih Yanik, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computational and Systems Biology Program, MIT

Microfluidic Gels For Microvascular Tissue Engineering

Joe Tien, PhD, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Center for Nanoscience and Nanobiotechnology, Micro and Nano Biosystems Laboratory, Organogenesis Laboratory, Boston University

Hierarchical Design of Heart Muscle

Kit Parker, PhD, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Microtools for Probing into Cell Motility

Daniel Irimia, PhD, Instructor, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Researcher, Shriners Burns Hospital for Children