AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES CORPORATION AND PARTNER, DRAPER LABORATORY, PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN ON-ORBIT IMMUNO-BA…

Public award description

AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES CORPORATION AND PARTNER, DRAPER LABORATORY, PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN ON-ORBIT IMMUNO-BASED LABEL-FREE WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNTING SYSTEM USING MEMS TECHNOLOGY (OILWBCS-MEMS) FOR HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT EXPERIMENTAL AND MEDICAL MONITORING PRACTICES. OUR PROPOSED SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO MEET NASA'S REQUIREMENTS FOR A MICROGRAVITY COMPATIBLE, MINIATURIZED, LIGHT WEIGHT PERIPHERAL BLOOD CELL COUNTING INSTRUMENT CAPABLE OF ON-ORBIT CELL COUNTING, WITHOUT HIGH ENERGY LASERS, REQUIRING MINIMAL SAMPLE VOLUME OR EXOGENOUS (SHEATH) FLUID, AND GENERATING MINIMAL BIO-HAZARDOUS WASTE: SBIR TOPIC X14.02 "ON ORBIT CELL COUNTING AND ANALYSIS CAPABILITY". THE PROPOSED DETECTION TECHNOLOGY LEVERAGES CHANGES IN OPTICAL TRANSMISSION THROUGH A SURFACE DUE TO MOLECULAR BINDING (E.G., ANTIBODY-ANTIGEN BINDING). ANTIBODIES SPECIFIC TO THE WHITE BLOOD CELL SURFACE PROTEIN MARKERS (ANTIGENS) ARE PRE-COATED ON THE SENSOR SURFACE TO RECOGNIZE SPECIFIC WHITE BLOOD CELL TYPES WITH INHERENTLY HIGH SPECIFICITY AND SENSITIVITY. IN PHASE I WE DEVELOPED SURFACE CHEMISTRY AND DEMONSTRATED SURFACE CHEMISTRY SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY FOR TOTAL WHITE BLOOD CELLS AND TWO LYMPHOCYTE SUBTYPES (B-CELLS, CD4+ T-CELLS). DURING PHASE II WE WILL DEVELOP A FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPE OF THE OILWBCS-MEMS DEVICE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT END-TO-END OPERATIONS FROM SAMPLE-IN TO SIGNAL-OUT PRODUCES CLINICALLY RELEVANT RESULTS. THE OILWBCS-MEMS DESIGN WILL INCLUDE SINGLE-USE REPLACEABLE CARTRIDGES FOR FLUID LOOP AND SENSOR COMPONENTS.