three-year project
Project description
INDEX technology will isolate exosomes from human plasma with high purity, and provide in-depth, multi-parameter characterization of the particles through digital counting, size determination, and biological phenotyping. INDEX requires successful integration of multiple sub-units and assays that each represents technological frontiers.
The final system will function in 5 stages, all-working coherently.
At Stage-1, exosomes in plasma samples will be immune-captured on magnetic beads within a microfluidic device. Isolated exosomes will be released on Stage-2 based on denaturation of nucleic acid-based linkers.
On Stage-3, purified exosomes will be captured by antibody microarrays prepared on special layered substrates that enable detection, sizing, and phenotyping of vesicles by optical imaging on Stage-4.
If desired, on Stage-5, exosomes will be released once again for further characterization involving genotyping and sequencing. The target is to integrate all steps from Stage-1 to Stage-4 on instrument level, and if possible on a single microfluidic chip.
Project objectives
- Develop a novel sensor for biological nanoparticles (BNP) to detect and classify individual biological nanoparticles as small as 30nm
- Develop a novel microfluidic device for efficient magnetic isolation of nanoparticles
- Develop novel exosome immune-capture and release assays
- Develop a novel phenotyping assay for exosomes
- Integrate isolation and BNP sensor modules within a prototype instrument to demonstrate complete on-chip exosome analysis
- Demonstrate the application of the system with clinical samples for lung cancer
