Title:  Electronic Antibody Microarrays for Label-free Immunophenotyping of Cell Populations

Committee:

Dr. Fatih Sarioglu, ECE, Chair , Advisor

Dr. Albert Frazier, ECE

Dr. Andreas Garcia, ME

Dr. Omer Inan, ECE

Dr. Wilbur Lam, BMED

Abstract:

Immunophenotyping (i.e., identifying cell membrane proteins) is widely used to characterize cell populations in basic research and to diagnose diseases from surface biomarkers in the clinic. This process requires complex instruments such as flow cytometers or fluorescence microscopes, which are typically housed in centralized laboratories. In this work, we present a microfluidic technology that employs a network of integrated electrical sensors to identify cell subpopulations based on their membrane antigens in a quantitative manner. To realize this technology, we developed a scalable electronic sensor network called microfluidic CODES (microfluidic coded orthogonal detection by electrical sensing), which combines code division multiple access (CDMA), a spread spectrum telecommunications technique, with Coulter sensing for the distributed detection of cells at strategic nodes across the microfluidic device from a single electrical output. By integrating the Microfluidic CODES technique with microfluidic cell capture chambers pre-functionalized with antibodies against target antigens, the device achieves all-electronic cell immunophenotyping through combinatorial arrangement of antibody sequences along microfluidic paths. Our technology not only provides an integrated platform for label-free combinatorial immunophenotyping of cell populations against multiple antigen targets, but also is built on frugal hardware well suited for resource limited settings or point-of-care applications.