Non-Destructive Detection and Separation of Radiation Damaged Cells in Miniaturized, Inexpensive Device

There is a clear and well-identified need for rapid, efficient, non-destructive detection and isolation of radiation damaged cells. Available commercial technologies are expensive, require core facilities and use destructive methods. We propose to develop and demonstrate a novel fully automated, microfluidics-based device for identification and sorting of radiation damaged cells. The final product will be simple, small, inexpensive and fieldable in research environments as well as space. We will identify novel cell surface markers indicating radiation damage using a microarray (gene expression) experiments and verify downselected markers (protein upregulation) using fluorescent antibody tagged microparticles. CFDRC's proprietary dielectrophoretic cell sorter technology will be adapted for automated separation of the tagged damaged cells from overall population of cells. Proof-of-concept will be demonstrated by separation of damaged cells from an irradiated cell sample. Phase II efforts will focus along two primary lines. Surface biomarkers discovery will be further extended and validated. An integrated microfluidic cartridge and instrumentation capable of all operations (storage, mixing, sorting) will be developed. The prototype instrument will be demonstrated with both terrestrial and space radiation (in collaboration with NASA researchers/facilities). A multi-disciplinary team consisting of experts in microfluidics engineers (CFDRC) and radiation biologists (Temple University) has been assembled.