Description du projet
Isoler les exosomes grâce au son
La séparation acoustique des cellules recourt à des ultrasons pour séparer les cellules ayant des propriétés physiques différentes, telles que la taille ou la densité. Financé par le Conseil européen de l’innovation, le projet AcouSome propose d’utiliser les ultrasons pour séparer des exosomes. Les exosomes sont des vésicules extracellulaires entourées d’une membrane qui transportent des protéines, des lipides et des acides nucléiques, et qui servent de moyen de communication entre les cellules et les tissus. En raison du rôle émergent joué par les exosomes dans différentes maladies, l’objectif global d’AcouSome est de mettre au point une approche permettant d’isoler rapidement et facilement les exosomes à des fins de recherche et de diagnostic.
Objectif
AcouSome is a consortium stemming from the ongoing EIC-FET Open BioWings project, and consists of four of the BioWings project
partners (AcouSort AB, DTU, Lund University and Day One Srl). AcouSome has the ambition to build on the disruptive technology of
thin film actuated acoustofluidics developed in BioWings. The results obtained in BioWings will be combined with a polymer
acoustofluidics technology developed in the ongoing Eurostars AcouPlast project to fabricate a polymer-based microfluidic chip for
separating and enriching exosomes from blood for use in the next generation of point-of-care diagnostics.
Exosomes are nano-sized extracellular vesicles that are released by a significant number of different cell types. They are considered an
important biomarker, with high diagnostic potential in a wide range of diseases, including different kinds of cancer (glioblastoma,
melanoma, prostate cancer and many others), hepatitis, kidney, cardiovascular and liver diseases. Therefore, there is an increasing
interest in exosomes as a powerful diagnostic tool. Having the opportunity to isolate and analyze exosomes from a routine blood test
is crucial for early detection of a wide range of diseases.
In the AcouSome chip exosomes will be separated and enriched from blood by combining two steps already developed by Lund
University and AcouSort. First plasma will be separated from blood by flowing the blood through a microfluidic channel, pushing the
cells towards the centerline of the channel using ultrasoundand and subsequently splitting the cell and plasma flows. Exosomes will
then be trapped and enriched from the plasma flow using a localized acoustic field. The acoustofluidic chip will be driven using
thin-film actuators as invented together with DTU in the BioWings project. The exosome separation cartridge is intended for sample
preparation in research labs and future diagnostic point-of-care instruments.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidics
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesmicrotechnologylab on a chip
- engineering and technologymedical engineeringmedical laboratory technologydiagnostic technologies
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectrical engineeringpiezoelectrics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesacousticsultrasound
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Régime de financement
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinateur
223 81 Lund
Suède
L’entreprise s’est définie comme une PME (petite et moyenne entreprise) au moment de la signature de la convention de subvention.