A microfluidic device for blood analysis in neonates

ABSTRACT Premature infants are frequently at risk of infectionjaundice and hypoglycemiaconditions monitored by analysis of blood for c reactive proteinCRPbilirubin and glucose respectivelyTypicallymL of blood is drawn each time an infant is tested with multiple blood draws happening over the course of daysGiven that total blood volume of in premature infants ismLup toof blood volume may be lost due to testingThis puts infants at risk of iatrogenic anemia and packed red blood cell transfusionsWhile these transfusions are considered safe in many regardsthey do expose neonates to transfusion acquired infectionscytomegalovirus in particularOur team has identified a need for volume sparing blood analysis platform that could be deployed in neonatal intensive care unitsNICUsTo address this needwe will develop an automated microfluidic platform for analysis of CRPbilirubin and glucose in andltmicroliters of bloodThis will representfold reduction in the volume of blood collected for the same assay presentlyBeyond decreasing the risks of anemia in newborn babiessuch sample sparing blood analysis may enable clinical research in neonatology which is currently limited in large part due the health risks associated with collection of large volumes of bloodWe should also underscore that the microfluidic device to be developed here represents platform technology with general utility for monitoring a wide range of analytes from a small blood volumeThis means thatin the futurethe multiplexing capabilities of this technology may be expanded to include additional analytes such as electrolytes and blood urea nitrogenBUNNARRATIVE Pre term birth babies are typically at greater risks of infectionshyperbilirubinemia and hypoglycemiaSuch babies are frequently tested for blood biomarkers associated with these and other adverse conditionsAt the present timethere is a dearth of volume sparing technologies for blood analysis which places neonates at risk of blood loss and anemiaThe objective of this small business grant application is to develop a volumesparing technology that will utilizetimes less blood for analysis compared to gold standard approaches