Improvement of an all-on-chip assay for studying cell migration

Cell migration assays (CMA) are fundamental cellular functional tests that are routinely performed in many areas of cell research such as tissue development, wound healing, cancer metastasis and immune response. We have developed a prototype microfluidic all-on-chip CMA that allows rapid immune cell migration assay tested directly from one drop of whole blood. This chip is also useful to test other non-immune cell types and offers significant advantages over the existing CMA such as easy-operation, initial cell position control, and on-chip cell separation. Through this project, we will further develop this microfluidic assay to improve its throughput and cell isolation efficiency, extend its use for testing the migration of other cell types, and explore the motility-based cell selection. These researches will critically improve the performance and expand the capability of this all-on-chip CMA, which provides a solid basis for the spin-off company to successfully commercialize this technology

Faculty Supervisor:

Francis Lin

Student:

Jiandong Wu;Xiaoou Ren

Partner:

BisonBio Ltd

Discipline:

Physics / Astronomy

Sector:

University:

University of Manitoba

Program: