STTR Phase II: Development of Bio-compatible and Bio-safe Cell Sorters

The broader/commercial impact of the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project will be a cell sorter, a new research tool for life science research, animal reproduction, and cell-based therapy. In the past decade, cell sorters have become vital in many fields, such as molecular and cellular biology, immunology, plant biology, animal reproduction, and medical diagnostics and therapeutics. Despite their significant impact, current cell sorters have the following drawbacks: high equipment and maintenance costs, significant bio-safety concerns, and reduced cell viability and function. These drawbacks reduce the effectiveness of cell sorters in many important research studies and clinical applications. Enabled by this innovation, researchers will be able to better understand the causes of diseases, identify new therapies, and test new drugs and vaccines. It also has the potential to improve dairy production efficiency, and aid medical doctors in making better decisions about diagnosis and treatment. In Phase II, the goal is to improve performance of the instrument, and validate the performance with end users. This STTR Phase II project will demonstrate the feasibility of a microfluidic-based, bio-compatible, bio-safe, fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Cell sorters are powerful, high-throughput, single-cell characterization and purification tools that are vital for labs in fields such as molecular biology, pathology, plant biology, stem cell biology, and medical diagnostics. The technology is based on acoustofluidic (i.e., the fusion of acoustics and microfluidics) cell sorting chips that preserve the integrity and functionality of sorted cells. Current cell sorting systems reduce cell viability, integrity, and cell function due to high shear stress, high impact force, and high driving voltage, which reduces their effectiveness as a research tool, and in clinical applications. Unlike current cell sorters that use electrostatic force to sort cells, which require 12,000 V of driving voltage, the proposed technology uses acoustic tweezers to sort cells, and requires only 10 V, which significantly reduces cell damage. Compared with existing cell sorters, the proposed microfluidic cell sorter will have the following advantages: 1) high bio-compatibility; 2) high bio-safety; and 3) lower costs and lower maintenance. In addition, the cell sorter will be more accessible to researchers and address existing unmet needs in the market (e.g., sorting fragile or sensitive cells while preserving high viability and function). This will accelerate research findings and improve diagnostics and therapeutics.