1. BIOREpository

Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip for novel diagnostIcs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

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Primary Data

Project title
Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip for novel diagnostIcs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Project Coordinator
Participant Organization(s)
 
Status
Completed
Start date
13-06-2023
Expected Completion
14-12-2024
 
Co-Investigator(s)

Description

Abstract
Based on decades of experimental pre-clinical work we developed a portable stand-alone clinical “lab on a chip” (to be branded as NIMOCHIP) for disruptive in vitro diagnostics of neurological disorders with an inflammatory component. NIMOCHIP contains microfluidic chambers for seeding living cells with fluorescent nanoprobes, that can be treated with nanoliter volumes of patient’s samples (plasma, sera or purified immunoglobulins - IgGs). The output of the device should be a set of physiological fluorescence molecular signatures of the patient’s sample, recorded by “optics on a chip” technology. The acquired optical signals will be analyzed using specialized software to obtain a personalized pattern of patient’s physiological signature and to generate an expert diagnostic report for the clinician Such advanced and personalized diagnostics of neuroinflammatory diseases, focusing first on the patient and then on the disease, is the main innovative advantage of this stand-alone versatile and modular device. Other advantages are a fast (recording in minutes and analysis in an hour), detailed and precise screening of the patient’s samples and, therefore, patient stratification. Having in mind that it takes on average about 9 to 12 months for someone to be diagnosed with ALS, from the time of disease onset, this will give an unprecedent multifactorial diagnostic information (based on a set of molecular signatures as stated above) but for a much shorter time (final results could be given the same day instead of a few days dor classical diagnostics). Additionally, NIMOCHIP could enable patient follow-up and longitudinal tests. In future development it is possible to apply this approach in early diagnosis of other neuroinflammatory diseases (e.g. multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington's disease), as well as in drug development.