Objective 'T cell based cancer therapy has been recognized as one of the most promising future cancer therapy methods. In a typical T cell therapy course, relevant T cells are isolated from the patient’s blood, modified against certain cancer markers, and infused back into the patient’s body where the engineered T cells direct the immune system to attack and finally eliminate the malignant tumor cells and tissues. Recent clinical research demonstrated that purified T cell subsets could greatly improve the therapy efficacy. However, currently available T cell enrichment techniques including fluorescence activated cell sorting and immunomagnetic isolation are either too expensive and risky, or they lack the multi-marker support. Therefore, there is a need for safe, affordable and multi-marker based T cell enrichment methods for cell therapy applications.In ERC-SCALPEL project, we developed a thermal vapor bubble jet flow technique for high speed fluorescence cell sorting. The bubble jet flow sorter was based on a precisely fabricated metal heater in a silicon chip. A short current pulse applied to this metal heater induced an array of micro vapor bubbles and consequently a jet flow for high speed aerosol-free cell sorting at 4,000 cells/sec. The bubble jet sorter has shown promise to serve the cell therapy demand: high throughput, high flexibility, guaranteed biosafety and affordability. The JetCell project aims at carrying out a feasibility study of bubble jet sorting technology for the enrichment of T cells as the first step of a typical cell manufacturing process for cancer cell therapy. With a prototype setup, the bubble jet sorter will be assessed in typical pre-clinical cell manufacturing models, from human cell lines to primary blood cells. Meanwhile, the cell therapy manufacturing market will be further analyzed and an initial business development strategy will be investigated. Fields of science engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringmedical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologymedical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologynatural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrymetalloidsmedical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologycells technologies Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-PoC-2016 - ERC-Proof of Concept-2016 Call for proposal ERC-2016-PoC See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant Coordinator INTERUNIVERSITAIR MICRO-ELECTRONICA CENTRUM Net EU contribution € 149 379,00 Address Kapeldreef 75 3001 Leuven Belgium See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Leuven Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all INTERUNIVERSITAIR MICRO-ELECTRONICA CENTRUM Belgium Net EU contribution € 149 379,00 Address Kapeldreef 75 3001 Leuven See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Leuven Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00