07:45 | Conference Registration, Conference Materials Pick-Up, Morning Coffee and Breakfast Pastries in the Exhibit Hall |
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Session Title: Companies, Commercial Offerings and Technologies in Lab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics |
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09:00 |  Technology Spotlight:
Need for Surface Tension Preparation for Microfluidic Devices
Bill Moffat, Founder & CTO, Yield Engineering Systems, Inc. (YES)
This presentation will discuss the need for surface tension modification for successful microfluidic devices. YES has experience with multiple gas and plasma mode preparation and multiple chemical reactants for vapor phase deposition. Their process equipment allows any combination to be used for the optimum surface conditions.
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09:30 |  Technology Spotlight:
A Unique Collaboration For Rapid Prototyping Injection Molded Microfluidic Devices and a Case Study of Microfluidic Cartridge for Pathogen Separation and Detection
Markus Ebster, Vice President Sales & Marketing, z-microsystems®, Austria
Nick Lewis, Sales Representative, Z Microsystems Americas, United States of America
z-microsystems from Austria and the University of Toronto, Canada began a unique development collaboration in late 2015 combining Silicon wafer technology and a new type of injection mold-making to provide a commercially viable rapid prototyping service to injection mold microfluidic devices. This presentation will outline details of the collaboration and successes so far.
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10:00 |  Technology Spotlight:
Injection Molding, a High Volume Solution for Microfluidic Cartridges
Mark Kinder, President, Plastic Design Corporation
This talk will discuss the advantages, limitations, scalability, material options, and design for manufacturability factors for injection molded fluidics.
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10:30 | Coffee Break and Networking in the Exhibit Hall: Visit Exhibitors and Poster Viewing |
11:15 |  Technology Spotlight:
Scalable Wafer Level Production of Consumables Made of Non-CMOS Compatible Materials on Glass, Challenges and Opportunities Utilizing a Foundry Concept
Alexios Tzannis, Business Development Manager Life Sciences, IMT Microtechnologies
For many microfluidic applications glass remains the material of choice. Glass is inert to most chemicals, has unsurpassed and well defined optical properties and good temperature and pressure stability. Glass components, however, have a reputation for being too expensive for high volume applications. In this presentation we show that this paradigma is wrong, if manufacturing technology developed for semiconductors is applied. The manufacturing of these components requires the whole portfolio of wafer-level packaging (WLP) processes, such as generation of (sub-)µm structures, through glass Vias (TGVs), temporary and/or permanent bonding. Life Science and Lab-on-a-Chip (LOAC) applications often require the integration of structured electrodes or waveguides. Therefore patterning of non-CMOS compatible materials as well as the compatibility of the processes to the constraints biological matter is needed. Whilst the mass production of sub µm patterns is well established in the semiconductor industry, semiconductor fabs are limited to using CMOS compatible materials. IMT of Switzerland has implemented a fully automated manufacturing line that allows cost effective mass manufacturing of consumables in substrate materials like borosilicate or fused silica wafers. The applied processes offer a high degree of freedom in the design of the consumable. In this presentation we discuss the challenges and solutions of implementing WLP processes for LOAC products.
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11:45 | Microfluidics for Point-of-Need Testing: Market & Technology Analysis
Sébastien Clerc, Technology & Market Analyst, Microfluidics & Medical Technologies, Yole Développement, France
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12:15 | Networking Lunch in the Exhibit Hall: Visit Exhibitors and Poster Viewing |
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Session Title: Innovations in Microfluidics/LOAC Device Development and Applications |
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13:30 |  | Keynote Presentation Microraft Array Platform for the Selection of Lymphocytes Based on Target-Cell Killing
Nancy Allbritton, Frank and Julie Jungers Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering, University of Washington in Seattle, United States of America
Adoptive cellular therapy (ACT) is an emerging therapeutic in which
cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) that recognize tumor cell epitopes are
introduced into patients providing immunity against the cancer cells.
For ACT to succeed, CTLs with high tumor-killing efficiency must be
identified, isolated, and characterized. Current technologies do not
enable simultaneous assay of cell behavior or killing followed by
recovery of the most efficient killer cells. A microraft array
technology that measures the ability of individual T cells to lyse a
population of target cells followed by sorting of living cells into a
multi-well plate for expansion and characterization was developed. The
microraft array platform was combined with image processing and analysis
algorithms to track and monitor killing assays over many hours.
Automated cell collection was incorporated into the platform for facile
cell collection from the array. As a proof of principle, human T cells
directed against an influenza antigen were co-cultured with antigen
presenting target cells on the microraft arrays. Target cell killing was
measured by tracking the appearance of dead cells on each microraft
over time. Microrafts with a single CTL demonstrating the greatest rate
of target cell death were identified, cloned, and influenza-antigen
reactivity confirmed. The platform is readily modified to measure the
antigen-specific activity of individual cells within a bulk CTL culture
or the cell heterogeneity within a population of gene-engineered T
cells. |
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14:00 |  Technology Spotlight:
Critical Manufacturability Considerations in Automating Laboratory Assays in Microfluidic Disposable & Instrument Systems
Luke Helm, Director of Business Development, Symbient Product Development
Practical and actionable information for CTO’s, CSO’s, scientists and engineers who need to develop low cost microfluidic cartridges or chips (instrument-driven or not) to implement assays developed in the laboratory. Topics include: 1. The manufacturability of micron scale features such as microfluidic channels. Costs considerations thereof in both development and production. Solutions to these challenges. 2. Microfluidic Volumes - how small is too small? Metering small volumes and tolerance considerations. Balancing reagent cost vs cartridge cost. Mixing characterization. 3. Workflow Considerations and Tradeoffs. Defining workflow for automation. On-instrument vs on-cartridge functions. Reagent considerations including storage and integration.
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14:30 |  Technology Spotlight:
Deposition of Biological Samples in Picoliter Volumes for Scalable Biosensor Production
Joshua Cantlon, Sales Representative, Scienion AG
A number of technologies have evolved to enable the development and manufacturing of a variety of different biosensing devices for medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and toxicity screening among others. In particular, loading of sensitive biological content onto sometimes microscopic sensing elements can be a real challenge requiring ultra-low volumes to be deposited with very high precision on extremely delicate surfaces. This presentation will illustrate how biologics can be accurately and reproducibly deposited to create high-quality multiplexed biological tests. Examples covering different platforms will include lateral flow strips, microarrays in microtiter plates, custom biochips and sensors, from R&D to manufacturing scale.
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15:00 |  Technology Spotlight:
5 Costly Surprises During Lab-on-a-Chip Development and How to Avoid Them
John Zeis, CEO, Toolbox Medical Innovations
If you've never developed a product, or if you're a veteran in product development, there are ALWAYS surprises that can derail, slow down, or increase costs. We will walk you through our 5 common surprises we've seen over the years and discuss how we help our customers mitigate the risks that reduce surprises plus, show you a case study on agile product development. You will walk away from this presentation with actionable takeaways to streamline your development process.
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15:30 | Coffee Break and Networking: Visit Exhibitors and Poster Viewing |
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STRATEC Consumables Symposium on Innovations in Microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip and their Impact on Life Sciences and Diagnostics | Session Sponsors |
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16:00 | Introduction to the STRATEC Consumables Symposium and Topics Addressed in 2016 |
16:15 |  | Keynote Presentation Microfluidic Printing: From Combinatorial Drug Screening to Artificial Cell Assaying
Tingrui Pan, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California-Davis, United States of America
Microfluidic impact printing has been recently introduced, benefiting
from the nature of simple device architecture, low cost,
non-contamination, scalable multiplexability and high throughput. In
this talk, we will review this novel microfluidic-based droplet
generation platform, utilizing modular microfluidic cartridges and
expandable combinatorial printing capacity controlled by plug-and-play
multiplexed actuators. Such a customizable microfluidic printing system
allows for ultrafine control of the droplet volume from picoliters
(~10pL) to nanoliters (~100nL), a 10,000 fold variation. The high
flexibility of droplet manipulations can be simply achieved by
controlling the magnitude of actuation (e.g., driving voltage) and the
waveform shape of actuation pulses, in addition to nozzle size
restrictions. Detailed printing characterizations on these parameters
have been conducted consecutively. A multichannel impact printing system
has been prototyped and demonstrated to provide the functions of
single-droplet jetting and droplet multiplexing as well as concentration
gradient generation. Moreover, several enabling chemical and biological
assays have been implemented and validated on this highly automated and
flexible printing platform. In brief, the microfluidic impact printing
system could be of potential value to establishing multiplexed droplet
assays for high-throughput life science researchers. |
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16:35 |  | Keynote Presentation Nanopore Sequencing for Real-Time Pathogen Identification
Kamlesh Patel, R&D Advanced System Engineering and Deployment Manager, Sandia National Laboratories, United States of America
As recent outbreaks have shown, effective global health response to
emergent infectious disease requires a rapidly deployable, universal
diagnostic capability. We will present our ongoing work to develop a
fieldable device for universal bacterial pathogen characterization based
on nanopore DNA sequencing. Our approach leverages synthetic
biofunctionalized nanopore structures to sense each nucleotide. We aim
to create a man-portable platform by combining nanopore sequencing with
advance microfluidic-based sample preparation methods for an
amplification-free, universal sample prep to accomplish multiplexed,
broad-spectrum pathogen and gene identification. |
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16:55 |  | Keynote Presentation Polymer-based Nanosensors using Flight-Time Identification of Mononucleotides for Single-Molecule Sequencing
Steve Soper, Foundation Distinguished Professor, Director, Center of BioModular Multi-Scale System for Precision Medicine, The University of Kansas, United States of America
We are generating a single-molecule DNA sequencing platform that can
acquire sequencing information with high accuracy. The technology
employs high density arrays of nanosensors that read the identity of
individual mononucleotides from their characteristic flight-time through
a 2-dimensional (2D) nanochannel (~20 nm in width and depth; >100 µm
in length) fabricated in a thermoplastic via nano-imprinting (NIL). The
mononucleotides are generated from an intact DNA fragment using a
highly processive exonuclease, which is covalently anchored to a plastic
solid support contained within a bioreactor that sequentially feeds
mononucleotides into the 2D nanochannel. The identity of the
mononucleotides is deduced from a molecular-dependent flight-time
through the 2D nanochannel. The flight time is read in a label-less
fashion by measuring current transients induced a single mononucleotide
when it travels through a constriction with molecular dimensions (<10
nm in diameter) that are poised at the input/output ends of the flight
tube. In this presentation, our efforts on building these polymer
nanosensors using NIL in thermoplastics will be discussed and the
detection of single molecules using electrical transduction with their
identity deduced from the associated flight time provided. Finally,
information on the manipulation of single DNA molecules using
nanofluidic circuits will be discussed that takes advantage of forming
unique nano-scale features to shape electric fields for DNA manipulation
and serves as the functional basis of the nanosensing platform. |
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17:15 |  | Keynote Presentation Rapid and Ultra-sensitive Diagnostics Using Digital Detection
Weian Zhao, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California-Irvine, United States of America
We will present our most recent droplet based digital detection
platforms for rapid and sensitive detections, which could find potential
applications at the point-of-care (POC). |
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17:35 |  | Keynote Presentation Fractionation and Analysis of Nuclear versus Cytoplasmic Nucleic Acids from Single Cells
Juan Santiago, Charles Lee Powell Foundation Professor, Stanford University, United States of America
Single cell analyses (SCA) have become powerful tools in the study
heterogeneous cell populations such as tumors and developing embryos.
However, fractionating and analyzing nuclear versus cytoplasmic
fractions of nucleic acids remains a challenge as these fractions easily
cross-contaminate. We present a novel microfluidic system that can
fractionate and deliver nucleic acid (NA) fractions from the nucleus
(nNA) versus the cytoplasm (cNA) from single cells to independent
downstream analyses. Our technique leverages a selective electrical
lysis which disrupts the cell’s (outer) cytoplasmic membrane, while
leaving the nucleus relatively intact. We selectively extract, purify,
and preconcentrate cNA using isotachophoresis (ITP). The ITP-focused
cNA and nNA-containing nucleus are separated by ITP and fractionated at a
bifurcation downstream and then extracted for off chip analyses. We
will present example applications of this fractionation including qPCR
and next generation sequencing (NGS) analyses of cNA vs. nNA. This will
include preliminary NGS analyses of nuclear vs. cytoplasmic RNA
fractions to analyze gene expression and splicing. We hypothesize that
the robust and precise nature of our electric field control is amenable
to further automation to increase throughput while removing manuals
steps. |
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17:55 |  | Keynote Presentation Chip-Scale Microfluidic Physiological Circulation Systems
Abraham Lee, Chancellor’s Professor, Biomedical Engineering & Director, Center for Advanced Design & Manufacturing of Integrated Microfluidics, University of California-Irvine, United States of America
There has been a recent surge in the development of microphysiological systems and organ-on-a-chip for drug screening and regenerative medicine. Over the years, drug screening has mostly been carried out on 2D monolayers in well plates and the drugs are not delivered through blood vessels as in vivo treatments. Through the advancement of microfluidics technologies, we have enabled the automation of biological fluids delivery through physiological vasculature networks that mimic the physiological circulation of the human body. The critical bottleneck is to engineer the microenvironment for the formation of vascularized 3D tissues and to also pump and perfuse the tissue vascular network for on-chip microcirculation. This in vitro model system can be used to screen cancer drugs by mimicking the delivery of the drugs through capillary blood vessels. On the other hand, microfluidics play an important role in the recent advances in liquid biopsy and the ability to specifically isolate and capture rare cells such as circulating tumor cells. These two technologies may go hand-in-hand to connect in vitro screening to in vivo screening with great potential in the development of personalized medicine.
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18:15 | Close of STRATEC Consumables Symposium |
18:30 | Cocktail Reception for All Conference Attendees: Enjoy Beer, Wine, Appetizers and Network with Fellow Delegates, Speakers, Exhibitors in the Exhibit Hall and View Posters Sponsored by STRATEC Consumables GmbH |
20:00 | Close of Day 2 of the Conference. Continue Networking in Downtown San Diego (Trolleys to the City are Available Right Behind the Conference Venue). |
20:00 - 22:00 Dinner Training Course
Organ-on-a-Chip: Technologies, Applications and Commercial Opportunities
Presented by:
Professor Michael Shuler, Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering, Cornell University; President & CEO, Hesperos, Inc.
Professor James Hickman, Professor, University of Central Florida; Chief Scientist, Hesperos, Inc.
- September 27, 2016 from 20:00-22:00
- Dinner will be served
- Separate Registration Required
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