Post-doc student Greg Goddard
LANL's Low-Cost Device
August / September 2006
Volume 4 Number 4
One of the greatest needs for flow cytometers—€” important for diagnosing, treating and monitoring the effects of the drugs used in the treatment of HIV—€”comes from developing countries with large percentages of their populations that have or may have HIV or AIDS. Using a flow cytometer, researchers and clinicians look at white blood cell counts and use CD4 counts (CD4 cells help fight infection in the body and are attacked and killed by the HIV) to monitor the patient. Throughout an HIV patient's life there will be numerous CD4 counts necessary to monitor HIV disease progression and response to HIV treatment.
Flow cytometry is a high-tech method for labeling, measuring, investigating and counting small particles. The machine is very important in many biological research and medical applications. Flow cytometers are used for numerous medical applications like cancer diagnosis and typing leukemia. This technique is also being used in ligand-receptor, cell-cycle and molecular-assembly studies as well as in marine biology to study characteristics of plankton. Scientists at nearly every university, medical school, pharmaceutical company and diagnostic lab use flow cytometers.
However, because of the high cost of these machines, large size and required use of large amounts of consumables, only traditional laboratories can afford to own this equipment. Many populations in vital need of flow cytometers have no way to access the technology.
Since its invention there has been a need and demand for an inexpensive, smaller and field deployable version. About six years ago, a team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists began working to develop a new flow cytometer that used all of the same basic concepts of a flow cytometer and employed smaller, less expensive and more field-friendly technologies. The culmination of this research is the Low Cost Portable Flow Cytometer.
Flow cytometry is a multi-million dollar industry that promises to be in the billions in the near future. The development of this Low Cost Portable Flow Cytometer has led the inventors to Los Alamos's technology transfer division. It has initiated a call for proposals from large corporations to small startups with the hope that the end product will soon be available to aid developing countries and researchers of all kinds with flow cytometry technologies.
Flow cytometer technology, commonly found in laboratories, uses electro-optical techniques to provide quantitative analysis of a variety of cellular properties, which are sequentially studied in a continuous-flow system. This system is currently a hydrodynamically focused stream of fluid that uses sheath flow to concentrate the particles in one central stream in which they move quickly through a very small tube and pass by a light, usually a laser, to be identified or measured. On the basis of these measured properties, the cells may then be physically isolated for use in various biological studies. Cells and subcellular constituents, such as chromosomes, can be analyzed and sorted at rates up to a few thousand per second.
Like the current technology, Los Alamos's portable flow cytometer performs the same functions at the same rate but it has been developed for any researcher, on any budget, who works in the field or in a lab. This cytometer uses innovative technology to reduce the cost and size of the flow cytometer and still function quickly and accurately.
The original flow cytometer was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the mid-1960s for studies of the biological effects of radiation and to help scientists differentiate the separate functions of cells that may look alike under a microscope but serve different purposes.
Los Alamos scientists Steven Graves and Gregory Kaduchak, along with Greg Goddard, Robert Habbersett, John Martin, Mark Naivar and Michael D. Ward worked to develop the low-cost version by concentrating first on the current method of focusing particles into a stream.
The scientists developed a flow cell using acoustic micro-manipulation techniques to focus the particles into a stream. This not only eliminated sheath flow, but it also allowed users to control how fast the stream moves. With a hydrodynamically focused stream, the sheath flow must be moving very fast to focus the particles in the center. This meant the stream itself would be moving very fast, requiring fast and expensive electronics to count and capture data about the particles. Additionally, it takes many gallons of sheath per day to operate the flow cytometer.
The patented acoustic concentration technology focuses the particles to the center of the flow chamber using vibrations. Using the acoustic technology, particle focusing occurs without sheath and the linear velocity of the particles can be slowed down, making it possible to use less costly and smaller electronics to capture the same quality of data as a standard flow cytometer.
While the acoustic micro-manipulation technology helps get rid of wasted sheath fluid, it also provides an opportunity to use less costly light sources and detector systems. Because the stream's velocity can now be controlled, light and detection can be lower powered and less sensitive. Graves and his team developed very inexpensive light sources using green laser pointers as well as low cost data acquisition systems.
According to the 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic produced by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization, an estimated 38.6 million people have HIV globally and an estimated 24.5 million of those people live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Through efforts by multiple AIDS organizations, smaller and less costly flow cytometers are starting to make their way into developing countries. However, there is still a great need considering the growing number of people with HIV/AIDS and the need for multiple tests to be performed throughout the treatment of a person with HIV/AIDS.
The idea to use acoustic technology to focus the particles for flow cytometry was an interesting and intriguing idea for Kaduchak, who worked with a team of scientists to develop the acoustic micro-manipulation techniques used in the Low Cost Portable Flow Cytometer. He worked for many years playing with the acoustic micro-manipulation techniques for fun while at work. But what had become a side project over the years quickly turned into a focus to solve one of the most serious problems plaguing the world today—€”HIV/AIDS in developing countries.
Two years ago, the Los Alamos team received a grant from the National Institute of Health to advance the development of its flow cytometer "Flow cytometers are critical to detect, treat and monitor HIV/AIDS," Graves said. "The big problem with that is that a traditional flow cytometer typically costs over $100,000 and that's well beyond the resources of the third world."
The cytometer has been tested successfully in the laboratory but scientists have not been able to build a completed prototype. The Los Alamos scientists said that they would like to be involved in further development of the product when a commercialization partner is selected.
Proposals for commercializing the Low Cost Portable Flow Cytometer have been accepted for consideration from all sizes and types of businesses.
"We are very excited about commercializing this technology," said Erica Sullivan, business development executive in the technology transfer division. "LANL's low cost portable flow cytometer is an important step in adapting traditional flow cytometry to new applications, and making it more widely accessible. Our approach to commercializing this technology is innovative, as well. We are looking for commercialization partners to develop this technology and also to contribute to our existing flow cytometry program. Ideally we would also like to support the local economy by selecting a partner with a regional presence. In this way, commercialization of the technology will not only further the biomedical field, but also benefit the region and DOE's mission."
Krystal A. Zaragoza is a communications specialist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Copyright © 2012 | Innovation America