Microfluidic Cell Microarray Platform for High Throughput Analysis of Particle-Cell Interactions

Nanotech that goes with the flow

31 July 2018

Combining nanoscience with ‘lab-on-a-chip’ technology could enhance the efficacy and safety of a new form of therapeutics, a study led by University of South Australia researchers suggests.

Nanoparticles show great promise as drug delivery vehicles, able to ferry medicine directly into target cells. Chemists are becoming increasingly adept at tuning nanoparticle parameters such as shape, size and surface chemistry. However, the range of potential nanoparticle formulations has become so large is it difficult to identify the best one for a given task.

Craig Priest, Nicolas Voelcker, and their colleagues have shown how shrinking nanoparticle cell toxicity testing on to a miniaturized device can speed up the process. Using a credit card sized microfluidic chip, they flowed various nanoparticles over living cells to assess particle toxicity. The chip’s multiple inlets and outlets allowed up to five nanoparticles to be tested simultaneously. 

The team is now scaling up the chip design, to be able to test multiple nanoparticles against multiple cell types in a single experiment. 

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References

1. Analytical Chemistry 90, 4338–4347 (2018). doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b03079