Lab-on-an-Organ: A droplet based portable continuous chemical sensor

We propose to develop a novel portable continuous chemical sensor. The sensor is a new type of monitoring technology, with novelties on fluidics sampling, online and offline chemical analysis and system integration.
Continuous measurement of biomolecule/drug concentrations directly from tissue or the other body fluids offers the exciting possibility of understanding physiological or pathological processes, recording responses to stimuli, drug metabolism, and even developing new therapies that use biomarker levels to guide treatment in real time. However, such measurement is challenging - the fluids are complex mixtures, the volumes can be very small, and detection methods are limited. Here a multidisplinary team from engineering, medicine and health science, propose to tackle this challenge through the development of an enabling portable sensor device. The device combines microdialysis and droplet microfluidic techniques, will sample body fluids into nano litre droplets, perform assays and measurements in situ, and communicate wirelessly to the user. We aim to develop the whole sensor package and test it in clinical settings for dermal, brain microdialysis and free flap surgery. We envisage this novel technology will revolutionize the current practices of sampling and chemical sensing, and find broad applications in disease diagnostics and monitoring, drug development, organ transplantation and the other areas.

(A) Diagnostics and therapeutics
The direct beneficiaries of the research will be patients who need diagnostics or treatment relying on continuous monitoring of tissue/organ chemicals, for example diabetic patients who critically need to monitor glucose and insulin levels; traumatic brain injury patients for detecting glucose, lactate and pyruvate; monitoring organ condition during transplantations; cancer or mental health patients for continuous monitoring of chemotherapy agents or potentially toxic drug levels; to name just a few. But each of the groups concerns a vast amount of people, having huge social and economic impacts. A portable and wireless chemical sensor will provide real time information, will allow clinicians to adjust medication over a fixed period of time and make immediate clinical management decisions, thus effectively controlling symptoms, reducing the length of time a patient spend in hospital, improving the quality of life and reducing fatalities.
(B) Drug development
Pharmaceutical industry will also benefit from the project. Both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have emphasized the value and the importance of drug-concentration data obtained from human tissue, and the support on the use of clinical microdialysis to obtain this information during drug development and for new drug submissions. Our portable sensor is especially useful in the study of bioavailability and bioequivalence of topically administered drugs. The sensor can also be used as an analytical tool in pre-selection of appropriate drug candidates before costly and lengthy clinical trials, or in the optimization of drug administrations.
We will communicate and engage with the aforementioned two groups of users and beneficiaries independently. To prepare for the further applications in diagnostics and therapeutics (group (A)), we have included in the proposal two work packages (WP D, WP E) for the sensor development. By working directly with patients and volunteers, and nurses and clinicians from NHS, we will design, modify and test the sensor for real life scenarios. We expect this will facilitate faster sensor development and better user experience. We will disseminate our research results to NHS and department of Health via our collaborators in the project. The results will also be reported or demonstrated in conferences, workshops, website and public affairs, to wider groups of audience and beneficiaries in pharm industry in group (B) and academic researchers.