Descrizione del progetto
Isolare gli esosomi con il suono
Nel caso in cui sia necessario separare tra loro cellule caratterizzate da proprietà fisiche differenti, quali ad esempio dimensioni o densità, un metodo efficace è la separazione acustica mediante l’impiego di ultrasuoni. Il progetto AcouSome, finanziato dal Consiglio europeo per l’innovazione, propone di utilizzare gli ultrasuoni per la separazione degli esosomi. Questi complessi sono vescicole extracellulari racchiuse da una membrana che trasportano proteine, lipidi e acidi nucleici e fungono da mezzi di comunicazione tra le cellule e i tessuti. Dato il ruolo emergente svolto dagli esosomi in varie malattie, l’obiettivo generale di AcouSome è quello di generare un approccio per isolarli in modo rapido e semplice con finalità sia di ricerca che diagnostiche.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
- 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
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinatore
223 81 Lund
Svezia
L’organizzazione si è definita una PMI (piccola e media impresa) al momento della firma dell’accordo di sovvenzione.