PROJECT FINAL REPORT

Transcription

1 PROJECT FINAL REPORT "Publishable" Grant Agreement number: Project acronym: PASCA Project title: Platform for Advanced Single Cell-Manipulation and Analysis Funding Scheme: STREP Period covered: from to Name of the scientific representative of the project's co-ordinator 11 : Dr. Peter Koltay Title and Organisation: Akad.ORat, IMTEK - Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg Tel: / Fax: / E-mai: koltay@imtek.de Project website 6 address: 11 Usually the contact person of the coordinator as specified in Art of the grant agreement

2 Project context and objectives Living biological cells and cell cultures are the essential ingredient of a wide array of life sciences research, from the genetic basis and mechanism of disease to drug development and drug cell interactions. So far, cells cannot be easily isolated and systematically analysed individually. They are commonly manipulated only as an unordered, unsorted, heterogeneous cell assembly often after lengthy periods of cell culture and isolation. This limits the depth of perspective that can be gained using modern single cell analysis methods, on single cell interactions and on the behaviour of a single cell types in a mixed cell or tissue system. The Single Cell Manipulation (SCM) technology investigated within the PASCA project, promises to open up new opportunities for enhanced life science research, especially in areas such as cell biology, stem cell research, cancer research, drug development and for the fabrication of 3D cell cultures or artificial organs. a) b) Figure 1: a) SCM prototype instrument developed within the first project period b) Micrograph showing single HeLa cells printed on a glass slide in an array with pitch of 500 µm. The overall aim of the PASCA project is to establish and validate a platform for single cell experiments. The project has two main objectives; firstly to develop a cell printing instrument for the manipulation of single living cells so that individual cells suspended in a heterogeneous cell solution could be isolated, transported and individually relocated and rearranged onto an arbitrary target. This approach requires the development of technology for printing single cells confined in micro droplets of only hundred micron size in an inkjetlike manner, so that the number of cells per droplet can be monitored and controlled by optical or impedance sensors. The SCM prototype instrument developed on the basis of this approach (cf. Figure 1) PASCA Final report (Publishable) page 2

3 enables the identification, sorting and delivery of single cells in an ink jet like manner, contained in a picoliter sized droplet for downstream processes such as transfection, stimulation, culturing or analysis. The second major objective of the project is to apply the single cell manipulation (SCM) technology to a set of applications thereby establishing a platform for advanced single cell manipulation and analysis (PASCA). Within this platform approach, the SCM technology is complements the "upstream" processes of cell preparation and treatment and the "downstream" processes of transfection, cell incubation and analysis, to realize and demonstrate a complete process flow for specific single cell experiments. Though the process flow for a certain experiment is specific, the approach of combining the SCM with upstream and downstream technologies in a flexible way is generic and can be adapted to many other applications.. Thus, by using the SCM technology coupled to state of the art upstream and downstream technologies (e.g. patch clamping, next generation sequencing, etc.), a novel platform for single cell based experiments referred to as the PASCA platform was established and validated. Work performed and main results achieved During the three years of the project, the main focus was on the development and further improvement of SCM prototype systems for inkjet like printing and sorting of single cells. In total 5 prototype systems of the first generation (see figure 1) with machine vision capability were fabricated and installed in 4 laboratories for application testing. Two more second generation prototype systems were built in the second phase of the project to integrate advanced functions like fluorescence imaging and impedance measurements on the cells during the printing process. Furthermore, various algorithms for cell printing and sorting were developed and tested based on optical image detection, fluorescent data and impedance measurements. Dispensing chips specifically for impedance sensing were fabricated using integrated electrodes and novel MEMS technology and regular supply of dispensing chips for subsequent use in application testing was established. The second major goal of the project was to demonstrate workflows using the prototype instruments in different fields of application thereby establishing the PASCA platform. The applications of the PASCA partners were focused on mono clonal cell culture production, cell heterogeneity studies for cancer research and controlled patch clamping of single cells. In all of these application fields experiments have been conducted to print and sort single cells. During such experiments, the printability and viability of the following cell lines and primary cells was demonstrated: human fibroblasts, mouse fibroblasts (3T3) human keratinocytes HeLa, turbo GFP Hela, C33a, CaSki, and SiHa RBL, HEK, CHO, Jurkat NThyOri WT thyrocytes 8505C anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cells In summary it can be stated that, in most application fields successful experiments were realized. In the field of clonal cell culture for example, better quality cultures which had higher Z factors and therefore had better properties for pharmaceutical screening were produced using the SCM. For cancer research, the utility of the SCM technology was demonstrated by sorting cancerous cells and non cancerous cells PASCA Final report (Publishable) page 3

4 according to their size as well as according to fluorescently labelled surface markers. For patch clamping applications, cells with higher ion currents were produced and a novel micromachined substrate for automated patch clamping experiments was developed. Furthermore, many other application fields have been addressed in co operation with parties from outside of the project (Pilot Partners), that will be published in due course. An overview of the publications of the project team so far and further information on the project and subsequent commercialization activities can be found on the project website: as well as on project.eu/sictec/. Final results and their potential impact In short, the work carried out within the PASCA project resulted in the development, characterization and demonstration of the SCM prototype instruments for inkjet like printing of single cells (cf. figure 1). These prototypes were successfully tested in a number of applications for single cell analysis. At the time of project closure 5 SCM prototypes according to figure 1 are available for further research work in the laboratories of the project partners. Within the project, all investigated sensing technologies: optical, fluorescent and impedance detection were successfully realized and for the majority of the initially targeted applications in the field of cell culture, cancer research and pharmaceutical screening proof of principle experiments or even reliable workflows could be established. Furthermore, more than 72 Pilot Partner inquiries proposing additional applications for the SCM technology have been solicited and two follow up grants to commercialize the technology have been acquired during the project. In summary, it can be stated that the PASCA platform was successfully established by a number of well documented and published workflows and applications using the SCM prototype instruments, showing the capabilities and potential of the single cell printing approach. Ultimately, the benefits of the PASCA platform range from constituting an enabling technology for fundamental life science research to highthroughput, high content and low cost cell screening methods and even novel diagnostic and theranostic methods. In particular, the SCM technology developed as part of this project could be used to investigate innovative approaches in cancer biology. Thus, the impact of the research performed in this project has the potential to extend into many fields not yet investigated within this project such as: Drug discovery and drug testing Tissue engineering, bioprinting and 3D cell cultures Cancer diagnostics and therapy Stem cell research The PASCA project has made a positive impact on society in a number of ways: scientifically (e.g. novel methods and results for stem cell research), economically (e.g. novel methods for more efficient drugs screening, cell line production or biotechnology) and medically (e.g. new methods for cancer diagnostics and therapy). It is hard to predict in which of the mentioned areas (or even others) the outcomes of the project will be most appreciated in the long term. However, due to the universal platform character of the PASCA approach and the many opportunities for single cell applications in various fields, the chances that the generated project results will have significant scientific, economic and societal impact are certainly high. This statement is supported by the large number and huge variety of Pilot Partner inquiries, the successful acquisition of two follow up projects (while more proposals are still pending) as well as several direct commercial inquiries which are not presented here in detail. PASCA Final report (Publishable) page 4

5 Project website Further information on the project including regular updates on publications and events is available through the project website: Figure 2: Screenshot of the main page of the public project website Contact Information Please address general remarks and inquiries to the coordinator: Dr. Peter Koltay Department of Microsystems Engineering IMTEK University of Freiburg Georges Koehler Allee Freiburg, Germany PASCA Final report (Publishable) page 5

6 Project participants University of Freiburg, IMTEK (Germany) Dr. Peter Koltay e mail: Koltay@imtek.de Sophion Bioscience A/S (Denmark) Dr.SuneHørlück e mail: suh@sophion.com University of Dublin, Trinity College (Ireland) Prof. John O Leary e mail: olearyjj@tcd.ie Primadiag SAS (France) Dr. Guillaume L Hermite e mail: glhermite@primadiag.com BioFluidix GmbH (Germany) Dr. Wolfgang Streule e mail: wolfgang.streule@biofluidix.com Zurich Instruments AG (Switzerland) Adrian Messmer e mail: adrian.messmer@zhinst.com INNOPROT (Spain) Dr.Isbaal Ramos e mail: iramos@innoprot.com PASCA Final report (Publishable) page 6