Perfusion Devices for Cell Analysis

The plan is to test the hypothesis that sufficient porosity can be created in thin tissue sectionsto move reactants dynamic perfusion. This is expected to require control of the freezing rate inlyophilization and use of proprietary microporous film technology. At present, reagents are introducedin tissue sections by static diffusion. The vertical flow of fluid through "microchannelled" tissue bymeans of pulsed filtration is expected to improve the efficiency of cell analyses. This should reduceassay costs, improve accuracy, and streamline automation. In phase I, the focus will be to maximizeassay efficiency, based on perfusion, for immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization. The idea is todevelop the necessary devices to facilitate the transition to a perfusional assay format. This would serveboth the manual system that uses microscope slides and a proposed automated system that uses"Tissue Discs".