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Projeto de investigação
Integrated Microfluidic Device for cancer detection from free circulating DNA using Digital PCR
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Publicações
Isolation of acute myeloid leukemia blasts from blood using a microfluidic device
Publication . Teixeira, Alexandra; Sousa-Silva, Maria; Chícharo, Alexandre; Oliveira, Kevin; Moura, André; Carneiro, Adriana; Piairo, Paulina; Águas, Hugo; Sampaio-Marques, Belém; Castro, Isabel; Mariz, José; Ludovico, Paula; Abalde-Cela, Sara; Diéguez, Lorena; DCM - Departamento de Ciência dos Materiais; CENIMAT-i3N - Centro de Investigação de Materiais (Lab. Associado I3N); UNINOVA-Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias; RSC - Royal Society of Chemistry
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common form of acute leukemia in adults and associated with poor prognosis. Unfortunately, most of the patients that achieve clinical complete remission after the treatment will ultimately relapse due to the persistence of minimal residual disease (MRD), that is not measurable using conventional technologies in the clinic. Microfluidics is a potential tool to improve the diagnosis by providing early detection of MRD. Herein, different designs of microfluidic devices were developed to promote lateral and vertical mixing of cells in microchannels to increase the contact area of the cells of interest with the inner surface of the device. Possible interactions between the cells and the surface were studied using fluid simulations. For the isolation of leukemic blasts, a positive selection strategy was used, targeting the cells of interest using a panel of specific biomarkers expressed in immature and aberrant blasts. Finally, once the optimisation was complete, the best conditions were used to process patient samples for downstream analysis and benchmarking, including phenotypic and genetic characterisation. The potential of these microfluidic devices to isolate and detect AML blasts may be exploited for the monitoring of AML patients at different stages of the disease.
Hybrid Digital-Droplet Microfluidic Chip for Applications in Droplet Digital Nucleic Acid Amplification
Publication . Coelho, Beatriz J.; Neto, Joana P.; Sieira, Bárbara; Moura, André T.; Fortunato, Elvira; Martins, Rodrigo; Baptista, Pedro V.; Igreja, Rui; Águas, Hugo; DCM - Departamento de Ciência dos Materiais; CENIMAT-i3N - Centro de Investigação de Materiais (Lab. Associado I3N); UCIBIO - Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit; DCV - Departamento de Ciências da Vida; UNINOVA-Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias; MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Microfluidic-based platforms have become a hallmark for chemical and biological assays, empowering micro- and nano-reaction vessels. The fusion of microfluidic technologies (digital microfluidics, continuous-flow microfluidics, and droplet microfluidics, just to name a few) presents great potential for overcoming the inherent limitations of each approach, while also elevating their respective strengths. This work exploits the combination of digital microfluidics (DMF) and droplet microfluidics (DrMF) on a single substrate, where DMF enables droplet mixing and further acts as a controlled liquid supplier for a high-throughput nano-liter droplet generator. Droplet generation is performed at a flow-focusing region, operating on dual pressure: negative pressure applied to the aqueous phase and positive pressure applied to the oil phase. We evaluate the droplets produced with our hybrid DMF–DrMF devices in terms of droplet volume, speed, and production frequency and further compare them with standalone DrMF devices. Both types of devices enable customizable droplet production (various volumes and circulation speeds), yet hybrid DMF–DrMF devices yield more controlled droplet production while achieving throughputs that are similar to standalone DrMF devices. These hybrid devices enable the production of up to four droplets per second, which reach a maximum circulation speed close to 1540 µm/s and volumes as low as 0.5 nL.
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Entidade financiadora
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Programa de financiamento
Concurso para Financiamento de Projetos de Investigação Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico em Todos os Domínios Científicos - 2017
Número da atribuição
PTDC/BTM-SAL/31201/2017