This federal Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), provides $693,423 to Baylor College of Medicine to develop and validate a microfluidic device capable of purifying platelets for safer and more effective platelet transfusions, particularly for pediatric and neonatal patients. The key objectives are to: 1) optimize the efficiency of the controlled incremental filtration (CIF)...
This $225,600 Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) aims to engineer a lab-on-a-particle platform to measure platelet function. The primary objective is to design elastic hydrogel microparticles that can assess platelet adhesion, activation, aggregation, and contraction. This innovative approach seeks to improve the reliability and reproducibility of platelet function testing and potentially...
This STTR Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (CFDA 93.837 Cardiovascular Diseases Research) provides $294,063 to Biomembretics, Inc. to develop and demonstrate a high-volume manufacturing technology for microfluidic oxygenators for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to treat respiratory failure. The project aims to advance a bioinspired microfluidic oxygenator technology that can safely and effectively oxygenate blood, addressing limitations of the...
This $305,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project, awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under its Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program, aims to develop a microchip-based technology that uses sound waves and electric fields to manipulate cells and sequentially deliver customizable genetic materials. The goal is to make advanced cell engineering more accessible and enable a wider range of users to perform complex cellular modifications...
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research Federal Grant Program (CFDA 93.837), awarded a $568,264 Project Grant (R41HL178144) to SAFI Biotherapeutics Inc. The goal of this Phase I STTR project is to develop a cost-efficient and scalable bioprocess for manufacturing designer red blood cells (RBCs) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These designer RBCs will be used as reagents to identify antibodies in patients requiring...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under CFDA 93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training program provides $306,860 to Mixedlcmedia LLC, a small disadvantaged business, to develop and evaluate a prototype ultra-low flow liquid chromatography platform based on their proprietary porous layer open-tubular (PLOT) and monolithic nanocolumn technologies. The goal is to create a commercialization-ready LC system that enables deep proteomic...
This Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), provides $595,464 to Cerulean Scientific Inc. to develop and evaluate a tethered liquid perfluorocarbon (TLP) coating for peripheral vascular grafts. The TLP coating aims to prevent thrombosis, biofilm formation, and other complications that contribute to the high failure rates of these medical devices. The 18-month project will involve in vitro...
Partillion Bioscience Corp. was awarded a $659,037 Project Grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences to develop reagent products enabling high-throughput screening and selection of single cells based on secreted bio-products. Under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), Partillion plans to transition its lab-on-a-particle technology—highlighted as a 2020 SLAS Innovation Award winner—into the first reagent product...
This Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) provides $275,000 to Dcan Biosciences LLC to develop an advanced microfluidic system for cancer diagnosis and monitoring. The system aims to isolate and assess circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and CTC clusters (CTCCs) from patient blood samples to enable highly sensitive and accurate liquid biopsies. Key objectives include designing a hybrid microfluidic device for...
This Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) aims to develop a biophysics-based numerical platform for accurately characterizing microbubble-enhanced ultrasound and its interaction with blood clots. The $618,912 award to Dynaflow, Inc., a minority-owned small disadvantaged business, will support efforts to build a computational model that can predict clot lysis rates under various operating...
AN ACOUSTOFLUIDIC DEVICE FOR BIOCOMPATIBLE PLATELET SEPARATION - ABSTRACT ISOLATING A HIGH-PURITY, HIGH-QUALITY, AND HIGH-CONCENTRATION PLATELET SAMPLE IN AN EFFICIENT AND COST- EFFECTIVE MANNER IS OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE TO BOTH HEMATOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND CLINICAL THERAPY SETTINGS. EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE SEVERAL METHODS FOR ISOLATING PLATELETS ON THE MARKET TODAY, MOST CURRENT METHODS HAVE LOW BIOCOMPATIBILITY (I.E., ACTIVATE PLATELETS, ALTER THEIR MORPHOLOGY, AND REDUCE MEMBRANE INTEGRITY DURING THE PLATELET SEPARATION PROCESS). THESE DRAWBACKS DETRACT FROM THE OVERALL UTILITY OF CURRENT PRACTICES, AND CAN EVEN HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON PATIENTS. FOR EXAMPLE, MEASUREMENTS OF PLATELET UNITS IN U.S. HOSPITALS HAVE FOUND THAT PLATELET ACTIVATION RATES RANGE BETWEEN 23% TO 50%. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT WHEN PATIENTS RECEIVE ACTIVATED PLATELETS, THEY REQUIRE MORE PLATELET TRANSFUSION THAN PATIENTS WHO RECEIVE NON-ACTIVATED PLATELETS. OVERALL, UP TO 30% OF PLATELET TRANSFUSIONS PERFORMED IN THE U.S. ARE INEFFECTIVE. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE MANY FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF PLATELET TRANSFUSIONS, THE QUALITY OF ISOLATED PLATELETS HAS BEEN SHOWN TO PLAY A CRUCIAL ROLE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS SBIR PROJECT IS TO OVERCOME THE LIMITATIONS OF EXISTING PLATELET SEPARATION TECHNOLOGIES AND ADDRESS THE UNMET NEEDS IN THE MARKET BY DEVELOPING AND COMMERCIALIZING A BIOCOMPATIBLE PLATELET SEPARATION AND ENRICHMENT PLATFORM USING ACOUSTOFLUIDIC (I.E., THE FUSION OF ACOUSTICS AND FLUID MECHANICS) TECHNOLOGIES. DURING OUR WORK ON THE PHASE I PROJECT, WE SUCCESSFULLY DEMONSTRATED THE UTILITY AND FEASIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED BIOCOMPATIBLE PLATELET SEPARATION AND ENRICHMENT DEVICES BY MEETING OR EXCEEDING THE TARGET VALUES FOR EACH OF THE SIX KEY PARAMETERS IDENTIFIED IN THE MEASURES OF SUCCESS. IN PHASE II, OUR COMMERCIALIZATION ACTIVITIES WILL IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ACOUSTOFLUIDIC-BASED PLATELET SEPARATION AND ENRICHMENT CHIPS, DEVELOP SELF-CONTAINED, BETA-TESTING-READY PROTOTYPES, AND VALIDATE THEIR PERFORMANCE WITH END USERS. THE PROPOSED ACOUSTOFLUIDIC TECHNOLOGY WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED BIOCOMPATIBILITY WHEN COMPARED TO THE BENCHMARK TECHNOLOGIES (ISOLATING PLATELETS THAT ARE MORE MORPHOLOGICALLY AND CHEMICALLY INTACT). WE BELIEVE THAT OUR SUPERIOR BIOCOMPATIBILITY COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL PLATELET ISOLATION TECHNIQUES WILL ENABLE THE DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF AN ACOUSTOFLUIDIC PLATFORM THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS, SPEED, AND ECONOMY OF BOTH CLINICAL AND RESEARCH APPLICATIONS OF PLATELETS.