BIOPICO SYSTEMS Inc. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: 101

Description

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant andquot andapos On the Fly Field potential Sensing Electrode Trackandapos OFFSET based NSC sorting for brain researchandquot Abstract The past decade has acquired a profound paradigm shift in high throughput tools for brain research with the advent of programming techniques in micro nano systems stem cells signal processing and genomics One area in which these technologies have opened new avenues has been the application of pluripotent stem cells to study neurodegenerative diseases The derivation of patient specific reprogrammed somatic cells enables immunologically compatible viable brain tissue for use in studying disease development creating therapies for neurological disorders and developing perfect models for the cells of the central nervous system that are harmed in the diseases The major challenge in translating stem cell biology into such useful tissue is the establishment of effective separation methods to isolate differentiated cells and exclude cells that hinder graft performance or lead to teratoma formation Unfortunately conventional separation techniques for stem cells such as microscope assisted manual isolation FACS and MACS require intensive labor exogenous labeling or genetic modification is not suitable for such clinical applications Therefore Biopico Systems teams with the researchers from University of California Irvine for their expertise in microfluidics the Childrenandapos s Hospital of Orange County CHOC Research Institute for their expertise in iPS cells therapy and Arizona State University for their expertis in neuronal stimulus recording using microelectrode array in order to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a label free electrical field potential marker based cell sorting for brain research With our understanding of the practical constraints of the system components from the laboratories of our collaborators we propose to develop complex therapeutic technology for research and practice We envision developing a family of systems to sort neural stem cells for several applications to lead technological transformation in neuroscience PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Mental disorders affect about of Americans annually costing an estimated $ billion in direct costs and lost productivity Our brain is the most complex tissue in our body with a greater diversity of cell types than in all other organs and tissues combined Therefore the development of this novel label free high throughput neural stem cell sorting technology of Biopico systems will contribute to the goals in neuroscience Our endeavor to overcome the barriers that prevent successful translation of stem cell biology into clinical therapy is highly significant to improve human health and control of human diseases Particularly the system can be a potential tool for the replacement of lost progenies remyelination and support of adjacent cells at risk in neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Parkinsonandapos s disease Alzheimerandapos s diseases Huntingtonandapos s disease stroke traumatic lesions such as spinal cord injury and for studying development and progression of such diseases