Abstract

Isolation and Analysis of Liquid Biopsy Markers using Microfluidics and a Liquid Handling Robot

Steve Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor; Director, Center of BioModular Multi-scale System for Precision Medicine, Adjunct Professor, Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology, The University of Kansas

Liquid biopsies are generating great interest within the medical community due to the simplicity for securing important biomarkers to manage complex diseases, such as many of the cancer-related diseases. We are developing a suite of novel microfluidic devices that can process clinical samples directly and efficiently search for a variety of disease-associated liquid biopsy markers, such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell free DNA (cfDNA), and extracellular vesicles (EVs). The microfluidic chips are made in plastics via injection molding and designed to optimize recovery and purity of each of the aforementioned biomarkers. The challenge with microfluidics is the need for attaching connector tubing to the microfluidic and using syringe pumps to fluidically operate the chips. We have developed liquid handling robots to automatically operate microchips and do so in a high throughput and automated fashion, appropriate for use in centralized clinical testing laboratories. The robots operate using pipet tips and do not require connector tubing reducing chip production costs. The robotic platforms were used along with specifically designed chips for analysis of each of the liquid biopsy markers. Examples of using the system for supporting large clinical studies will be discussed, such as CTCs for discovering new therapies for pancreatic cancer, cell free DNA genotyping for breast cancer, and EVs for patient stratification in ovarian and breast cancers.