SBIR Phase I: Advanced microfluidic systems enabling development of novel circulating tumor cell diagnostics

SBIR 第一阶段：先进的微流体系统能够开发新型循环肿瘤细胞诊断

• 批准号: 2234009
• 负责人: Ehsan Sarafraz-Yazdi
• 金额: $ 27.5万
• 依托单位: DCAN BIOSCIENCES LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-02-01 至 2024-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234009&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Advanced; microfluidic; systems

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve the diagnosis, risk assessment, and monitoring of cancer. Nearly 40% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Diagnosis of cancer in later stages dramatically reduces treatment options, leading to poor prognosis and low survival rates. In addition, the average cost of treatment for late-stage patients can be 3–5 times higher than that for early-stage patients due to the potential need for multiple rounds of expensive therapies. These multiple rounds of treatment contribute to the high economic burden of cancer. Thus, detecting cancer earlier will not only lead to improved patient outcomes but will likely reduce the overall costs of cancer treatment. Moreover, a minimally invasive and highly accurate diagnostic could be broadly administered to effectively identify those with various cancers, enhancing the commercial potential further. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop an advanced microfluidic system for the isolation and assessment of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and CTC clusters (CTCCs) for cancer diagnosis and monitoring. Microfluidic devices in various forms have been developed to isolate the extremely rare CTC population from billions of blood cells, but these technologies suffer from three major problems: 1) low sample purity, 2) low numbers of isolated CTCs/CTCCs, and 3) CTC/CTCC heterogeneity. To overcome these limitations, this project will develop an innovative device for the simultaneous isolation and assessment of single and clustered CTCs and their molecular signatures, enabling the implementation of new, highly sensitive and accurate liquid biopsies for cancer. The key objectives for this project are: 1) Design and develop a hybrid microfluidic system for simultaneous isolation and concentration of CTCs and CTCCs with high purity, 2) Develop and optimize two devices for single CTC and CTCC analysis, and 3) Testing and validation using prostate cancer patient specimens. This research will lead to the development of a new cancer diagnostics platform that is minimally invasive and more sensitive and accurate than current methods, expanding treatment options and improving patient outcomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该小企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是改善癌症的诊断、风险评估和监测。近 40% 的美国人在一生中会被诊断出患有癌症。晚期患者的治疗选择大大减少，导致预后不良和生存率低。此外，由于潜在需要多次治疗，晚期患者的平均治疗费用可能比早期患者高3-5倍。这些多轮昂贵的治疗。因此，早期发现癌症不仅会改善患者的治疗效果，而且可能会降低癌症治疗的总体成本。此外，微创且高度准确的诊断可以广泛应用于癌症治疗。该小型企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目旨在开发一种先进的微流体系统，用于分离和评估循环肿瘤细胞 (CTC) 和 CTC 簇 (CTCC)。癌症诊断和人们已经开发出各种形式的微流体装置来从数十亿个血细胞中分离出极其稀有的 CTC 群体，但这些技术存在三个主要问题：1) 样品纯度低，2) 分离的 CTC/CTCC 数量少，3)为了高度克服这些限制，该项目将开发一种创新设备，用于同时分离和评估单个和簇状 CTC 及其分子特征，从而实现新的、灵敏且准确的液体活检。该项目的主要目标是：1) 设计和开发混合微流体系统，用于同时分离和浓缩高纯度的 CTC 和 CTCC，2) 开发和优化两种用于单一 CTC 和 CTCC 分析的设备，以及 3)使用前列腺癌患者标本进行测试和验证将导致开发一种新的癌症诊断平台，该平台具有微创性，比现有方法更灵敏、更准确，从而扩大了治疗选择并改善了患者的治疗结果。该奖项反映了 NSF 的贡献。法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。