Abstract

Microfluidic Tools For Monitoring the Immune System

Joel Voldman, Professor and Associate Department Head, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Microsystems have the potential to impact biology by providing new ways to manipulate, separate, and otherwise interrogate cells.  Immune cells are of particular interest because of their central role in defending the body against foreign invaders.  As a consequence, many microfluidic devices have been used to study both the basic biology of immune cells as well as to assay them for clinical use. Our lab has developed technologies on both ends of the spectrum, from cell pairing devices able to study information flow in immune cells, to electrical sorting devices for assaying immune cell function in response to disease. In terms of cell pairing, we have developed two complementary approaches to creating programmed pairs of cells, one using capture “cups” and a three-step back-and-forth loading procedure to pair thousands of cells in parallel, and the other using microfluidic “corrals” to contain cells. With these devices we can pair immune cells with each other or with other cells (i.e., tumor cells) to study information flow from first contact to downstream effector functions, elucidating how decision-making occurs in these interactions.