Cellix's Microfluidics Systems for Drug Discovery and Cellular Diagnostics
14.07.2009
Microfluidics Systems for Drug Discovery and Cellular Diagnostics
Specializing in the area of
microfluidics technologies for drug discovery, diagnostics, and medical
research is the Ireland-based Cellix Limited. The instrumentation company's
signature product is the Microfluidic SP1.0, which models human blood
vessels, providing scientists with a dynamic set-up mimicking physiological
conditions to test new therapeutic drugs. The Microfluidic SP1.0 is a
platform technology that encompasses a range of disposable biochips, Vena8
Biochips; a sophisticated pumping system called the Mirus 1.0 Nanopump; and
a cell analysis software program called DucoCell.
The Vena8 biochips are capable of mimicking human capillaries. Disease
microenvironments can be simulated in the channels of the biochips as they
can be coated with ligands/cells that typically are expressed in vivo. These
biochips allow detailed dissection of disease processes at the cellular
level where shear stress or continuous flow parameters are known to affect
physiologic events. Pumping of the fluid within the capillaries of these
biochips can be controlled by the Mirus Nanopump series, which consists of
high precision pumping systems designed to aspirate small sample volumes and
support flow rates in the range of picoliters per minute to microliter per
minute. The Mirus Nanopump is computer controlled using the user-friendly
Flowassay software, which allows the user to aspirate or dispense fluid in
addition to specifying variable flow rates and shear stresses under assay
conditions.
Cellix also supplies a complete setup so that the Vena8 biochips can be
contained within a microscope cage incubator, designed to maintain the
required environmental conditions for cell culture. As such, the Mirus range
of pumping systems is ideally suited to flow assays using cell suspensions
for detailed studies of adhesion, migration, invasion, activation, and
toxicology.
The cellular image analysis program, DucoCell, is capable of fast and
reliable counting of cells, sorting of cells by morphological parameters,
and statistical analysis of these morphological features. DucoCell can
analyze a number of different contrast images such as brightfield ,
Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) contrast, and phase contrast
images, and works with the majority of common image formats.
At present, the microfluidic platform is being used for
academic/institutional (National Cancer Institute, NIH, University of
Washington) and pharmaceutical (AstraZeneca) research and not in a clinical
environment; and so the company does not require FDA approval for its
products. However, for the designing phase, management investigated FDA
guidelines on similar products and all materials and protocols are in line
with FDA standards. The products are CE approved.
The products of Cellix have multiple benefits. The Vena8 biochips, together
with the Mirus Nanopump and DucoCell software, result in a microfluidic-enabling
platform that enables high content, real-time dynamic cell function studies.
Findings from a survey undertaken by students of the MBA Entrepreneurial
program at the Fox School of Business at Temple University in Philadelphia
found that the majority of potential end users interviewed said they
believed that the number one feature of Cellix's platform was in fact the
ability of the system to mimic the in vivo physiological disease
microenvironment more closely. They said they believed that the biochip
designs, which can be coated with proteins of particular interest, allow
researchers to investigate areas of the vascular network only previously
available through animal experimentation. In addition to replicating these
microenvironments, Cellix Vena8 Biochips allow multiple assays to be
performed much faster than with previous similar technologies (for example,
Glycotech's flow chamber), allowing major savings in labor and time. Also,
the volume of reagent/sample per experiment is greatly reduced,
approximately 5 microliters to 10 microliters, facilitating a greater number
of experiments for initial volume. Finally, the assessment of cellular
responses can be determined automatically using DucoCell software, within a
matter of minutes, thus allowing lead compounds to be characterized quickly
and efficiently.
With respect to the applications segment, Cellix products are currently
focused on the niche market of cell-based assays and are ideally suited for
applications studying cell adhesion, migration, invasion, chemotaxis, and
shear stress models in following diseases and microenvironments. At present,
two applications have been developed in the area of respiratory diseases
(asthma and allergies) and autoimmune diseases.
Talking to Technical Insights about Cellix's future developments, Vivienne
Williams, CEO, comments, "It is Cellix's intention to increase the use of
the current product offering by validating further applications, which
include cardiovascular, angiogenesis and further autoimmune diseases whereby
particular cells (for example, eosinophils, platelets, T-cells) adhere to
adhesion molecules/cells when exposed to specific proteins." She says, "Cellix
recently completed a study at a beta reference site (Professor Dermot
Kenny's laboratory at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) for platelet
adhesion studies to validate the platform for the use as a tool in the area
of thrombosis research. An application note for this will be available in
early May 2007. In addition, a study is currently under way in the
laboratory of Professor Evgeni Sokurenko at the University of Washington to
investigate bacterial pathogenesis in the Vena8 biochips, which represent an
advance in the approach to investigating and comprehending the mechanisms of
adhesion of bacteria. Investigating invasiveness, colonization, and
toxigenesis potential in real time in a dynamic environment will provide
scientists with the know-how to identify novel therapeutics." This area of
bacterial adhesion and biofilm culture also has applications in the field of
cardiovascular stent infections.
The following are some of the future application areas that Cellix would be
focusing on: Biochip ranges--Cellix is also developing another range of biochips for
chemotaxis--where cells chemotax or move to/from a concentration gradient of
a drug. This type of biochip would prove particularly useful in determining
drug dose concentrations, which recruits a cell into a particular site of
inflammation.
Mirus 2.0 Nanopump--Future development of the Mirus 1.0 Nanopump would
naturally lead to a more high throughput version of Cellix's current
platform. Possible designs are currently being developed. Diagnostics--The future of medicine and drug discovery is likely to act as a
preventive and a personalized measure against disease and, hence, it is
Cellix's strategic goal to adapt its current microfluidic biochips to the
diagnostic sector and, as such, potential application areas are currently
being researched.
Talking about the cost benefits of Cellix's products, Williams comments,
"The cost advantages of Cellix's platform lie primarily in the elimination
of false leads earlier in the drug discovery process. Because results are
more representative of the in vivo physiological condition (the fact that we
can use microfluidics to mimic human capillaries), it enables researchers to
make more informed decisions such as the 'go/no-go' decision on a particular
candidate for a product pipeline."
Commenting on the time factor, she says that Cellix's platform saves time;
similar animal tests (for example, rat paw oedema test) make take several
days or even weeks compared to hours in Cellix's platform before a
researcher can make a decision regarding a potential lead's fate. She says,
"Therefore, we can increase not only researcher productivity but also refine
the product pipeline and potential leads.
While microfluidics has been hailed for reducing volumes for many years, end
users see this as only an added benefit to Cellix's platform. While the
platform does reduce cost from the resulting reduction in sample and reagent
volume, the key benefit is the refined product pipeline for pharma and
biotech companies-- [it] leads with a greater chance of success."
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