Microfluidics
Group of blue-coloured cells under the microscope
and/or secreted proteins from the stream of fluid as it is pumped through the channels can be chal- lenging. However, a recent wave of microfluidic advances (over the past 10-15 years) has seen the development of droplet technology, allowing indi- vidual cells to be compartmentalised within a smaller (picolitre volume) droplet or ‘pico- droplet’15. This exceptionally powerful and sensi- tive technique allows single cells to be isolated from a population of millions and enables accu- rate detection of rare cell types. Secreted proteins (eg cytokines, monoclonal antibodies) may be trapped or compartmentalised within the pico- droplets for analysis1,16,17. The picodroplets pro- vide a defined and controlled environment for each cell that can be manipulated for research or manufacturing purposes18. The core technology underpinning picodroplet
microfluidics cleverly fuses established molecular and bacterial encapsulation techniques with anti- body recognition platforms. Sphere Fluidics was among the first companies to recognise the poten- tial of this approach and to design fully-automated systems that harness this technology for scientific and commercial purposes. Areas of study such as antibiotic resistance, hybridoma screening, drug resistance in cancer cells and cell signalling are already benefiting from picodroplet plat-
Drug Discovery World Summer 2018
forms2,5,16-18. Diagnostics, including point-of-care systems, are also showing promise19,20. These advances will support earlier diagnosis, improve the accuracy of testing and increase the potential for personalised treatment of disease19,20. The speed of these systems is remarkable; up to
1,000 times faster than manual clone picking pro- cedures, which take a few weeks to analyse 10,000 cells. Modern microfluidic picodroplet systems can identify novel antibodies in as little as 15 minutes and are able to analyse 40 million cells within six hours. The overall quality of the system and the results obtained are also improved because the platform is much gentler, compared with flow cytometry; the picodroplet package acts as a cushion, protecting the cells as they are pumped around the system. The cells leave the microfluidic system with a minimal impact on cell viability, unlike the significantly-decreased viabil- ity often seen with FACS, providing better recov- ery rates. Cell suspensions and adherent cells can be maintained within a picodroplet for several days with comparable viability to cells cultured in conventional flask environments18. Antibody measurement is highly specific and extremely fast using the latest, easy-to-use, integrated and auto- mated systems, which also appeals to biopharma- ceutical partners.
Picodroplets being produced at rates of 100,000 per minute
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