Monday, April 16
*Lectures are CME accredited unless otherwise noted.
7:30 am Registration and Morning Coffee
8:20 Conference Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
Gregory A. Weiss, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Chemistry, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine
8:30 Integrated Molecular Diagnostics Systems: Genetic Analysis of H1N1 Influenza at the Point-of-Care
H. Tom Soh, Ph.D., Ruth Garland Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara
We present the Magnetic Integrated Microfluidic Electrochemical Detector (MIMED) that integrates sample preparation and electrochemical sensors in a monolithic disposable device to detect RNA-based virus directly from patient samples. Our system enables a universal approach for multi-target genetic diagnostics at the point-of-care. As a model, we demonstrate the detection of influenza H1N1 in throat swab samples at loads as low as 10 TCID50 - 4 orders of magnitude below the clinical titer for this virus.
9:00 Point-of-Care Nucleic Acid Testing for Infectious Disease
Angelika Niemz, Ph.D., Arnold and Mabel Beckman Professor and Director, Research, Keck Graduate Institute
Infectious diseases diagnosis in primary care facilities of low resource settings requires rapid, simple to use, and inexpensive devices that address the entire process from sample in to answer out in an integrated format. We are developing a platform technology for nucleic acid testing that integrates isothermal nucleic acid amplification, lateral flow-based detection, and novel sample preparation approaches.
9:30 Rapid Microfluidic Diagnostics and Monitoring at the Point of Care
Utkan Demirci, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Medicine and Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital
More than 30 million people are living with HIV-1 worldwide. By the end of 2008, only 42% of people who needed ART, were actually receiving it, partly due to lack of cost-effective ART monitoring in resource-limited settings. CD4+ T-lymphocyte counting is a standard method used to monitor HIV-infected patients during anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The World Health Organization (WHO) has pointed that a handheld, point-of-care, reliable, and affordable CD4+ T-lymphocyte counting platform is urgently needed in resource-scarce settings. To overcome this challenge, we developed microchip-based point-of-care (POC) technologies to count CD4+ T lymphocytes at resource-limited settings. On a microchip coated with immobilized antibodies, CD4 T lymphocytes were captured from whole blood. The portable, battery operated, lensless, microchip platform showed significant correlation in CD4 T-cell counts compared with the gold standard. The device rapidly produced CD4 T-cell counts within 10 minutes using an automated cell counting program. Currently, we are developing this platform technology to achieve rapid viral load information, which determines the AIDS treatment regimen. This platform technology can potentially deliver inexpensive, rapid and simple testing to monitor antiretroviral treatment in developing countries.
10:00 Dedicated Poster Session, Exhibit Viewing and Coffee Break
10:45 Paper-Based Point-of-Care Testing Sensors for Quantitative Analysis of Biomarkers and Bacterial Cells
Chenzhong Li, Ph.D., Associate Editor, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology; Associate Editor, Biosensors Journal; Nanobioengineering/Bioelectronics Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University
Paper, being relatively cheap and abundant, and easy to use has been the focus of significant attention as a platform for the development of paper-based point of care devices. This lecture will outline our recent research activities to integrate novel nanomaterials and nanofabrication technologies to the paper based immuo lateral flow devices for quantitative and qualitative detection of both small molecular biomarker and for bacterial cells.
11:15 Modular Microfluidics for Complex Assay Development in Point-of-Care Diagnostic Applications
(Not CME Accredited)
Holger Becker, Ph.D., CSO, R&D, microfluidic ChipShop GmbH
Microfluidics is a key enabling technology in almost every future diagnostic kit, especially for point-of-care (POC) applications. It shows inherent advantages if the protocols include molecular diagnostic procedures such as nucleic acid extraction or amplification. We present a modular microfluidic toolkit which allows a rapid development and validation of such protocols which are then transferred to an integrated cartridge for POC settings. Examples for cases like celiac disease, infectious diseases, viral and bacterial pathogen and cancer biomarker detection at the point-of-care will be presented.
11:45 Lensfree On-Chip Microscopy and Tomography Toward Telemedicine Applications
Aydogan Ozcan, Ph.D., Electrical Engineering Department, Bioengineering Department, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California
We introduce new imaging and sensing architectures that can compensate in the digital domain for the lack of complexity of optical components by use of novel theories and numerical algorithms to address the immediate needs of telemedicine for global health problems.
12:05 Simulation Reduces Risk Earlier in IVD Instrument Development Programs
(Not CME Accredited)
Jack Kessler, Ph.D., Senior Principal Systems Engineer, KMC Systems, Inc.
IVD instrument development programs carry risks depending on marketing requirements, business value proposition and/or technology maturity. Utilizing an early risk assessment tool is vital. Simulation is effective in exposing concealed requirements, design conflicts, and technical risks, providing a platform to resolve and revise concepts before development expenditures are made.
12:20 Bringing Molecular Amplification to the Point-of-Collection Setting
(Not CME Accredited)
Paul Lambotte, Ph.D., CSO, Axxin
Isothermal amplification methods are coming of age and offer advantageous characteristics over the polymerase chain reaction method, bringing rapid molecular detection of infectious diseases to the clinical lab and to the point-of-collection settings. New equipment is being developed, simpler and less expensive than thermocyclers, allowing rapid deployment of the technology into R&D labs, clinical labs, POC settings and field applications.
12:50 pm Luncheon Presentation or Lunch on Your Own
2:10 Chairperson’s Remarks
Young Jik Kwon, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine
2:15 Keynote Address
Highly Multiplexed, Quantitative Single Cell Proteomics for Clinical and Fundamental Applications in Oncology
 James R. Heath, Ph.D., Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology
Over the past few years we have developed an enabling microfluidic technology called the Single Cell Barcode Chip (SCBC). For this platform, single cells are isolated into 1-2 nanoliter volume microchambers, and each microchamber is equipped with a miniaturized antibody array in the form of a barcode. The platform permits 20 or more cytoplasmic, membrane, and/or secreted proteins to be quantitatively assayed from individual cells, with up to 1500 single cells analyzed in parallel. We have applied this technology in both fundamental and clinical applications, but I will focus on two clinical applications. The first application involves separately profiling the engineered and acquired T cell immune responses in melanoma cancer patients participating in an engineered T Cell Receptor adoptive T cell immunotherapy trial being run by Dr. Toni Ribas at UCLA. For this study, we characterized the functional performance of several tumor-antigen-specific T cell phenotypes. We find that the assembled single cell data provides a compelling picture of the individual patient responses to the therapy, and that picture correlates well with clinical observations, and is helping inform a next-generation clinical trial. For the second application, we characterize proteins associated with the RTK/PI3k and MAPK signaling pathways from single cancer cells extracted from a glioblastoma multiforme tumor. We find that a large fraction of the oncogenic signaling network, as well as the influence of drugs on that network, may be quickly and quantitatively extracted.
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2:45 Multiplex Magneto-Nanosensor Array for Protein Quantitation, Antibody Screening, and Kinetics
Shan X. Wang, Ph.D., Professor, Materials Science & Engineering; Electrical Engineering; and by courtesy, of Radiology, Stanford University
Multiplex magneto-nanosensor arrays are used to perform protein quantitation with great speed (30 min. – 2 hours), sensitivity (1 picogram/milliliter concentration levels), selectivity, and binding measurements.
3:15 Refreshment Break with Exhibit & Poster Viewing
4:00 Rapid, Label-Free, Electrical Whole Blood Bioassay Based on Nanobiosensor Systems
Chongwu Zhou, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California; Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology
Biomarker detection based on nanowire biosensors has attracted a significant amount of research effort in recent years. We will report the demonstration of an In2O3 nanowire-based biosensing system that is capable of performing rapid, label-free, electrical detection of cancer biomarkers directly from human whole blood collected by a finger prick.
4:30 Ultra Sensitive Graphene Biosensors for Biological Analysis
Tianhong Cui, Ph.D., Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota
This talk will present recent work on graphene based biosensors for the detection of cancer biomarkers and other biological molecules. This presentation will cover graphene material, microfabrication, and testing of the MEMS-based graphene biosensors.
5:00 Nanoparticle Detection for Point-of-Care Testing—Minimal Abundance Troponin Case
(Not CME Accredited)
Winton Gibbons, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Nanosphere, Inc.
Wei Hu, Ph.D., Nanosphere
Measurement of low-abundance proteins provides clinical value, as exemplified by troponin in acute coronary syndrome and heart failure. Nanosphere’s gold-silver signal amplification can achieve the necessary single femtomolar detection levels. Additionally, the company is seeking to apply this technology platform to other clinically-important protein targets.
5:30 Reception Sponsored by Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center & Cambridge Healthtech Institute
6:30 Close of Day One