PBMC work - PBMC01

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Testing the handling of live primary peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) derived cells on a microfluidics instrument

  • IRAS ID

    315847

  • Contact name

    Nele Dieckmann

  • Contact email

    n.dieckmann@lightcastd.com

  • Sponsor organisation

    Lightcast Discovery Ltd

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    N/A, N/A

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 0 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    The aim of the study is to test handling primary human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) and PBMC-derived cell subpopulations on a new microfluidics laboratory instrument that is currently in the development phase. The instrument allows for the manipulation and imaging of individual microscopic droplets containing very small volumes of fluid on a microchip. The droplets encapsulate aqueous medium with cells and/or assay reagents and after assessment of droplet contents it is possible to selectively recover droplets of interest and their contents from the instrument.

    The goal is to test performance of these cell types on the instrument, and recover material for downstream applications such as cell expansion, RNA or DNA analysis.

    The instrument under development provides a new platform for experiments down to single cell level and with smaller reagent volumes for cell biological studies in both academia and industry with potential applications in fields such as drug discovery and cell therapy. The assessment of primary human blood cells on the platform will be key to guiding early instrument development and to refining our understanding of which areas of research and development are likely to benefit from the platform.

  • REC name

    London - City & East Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    22/PR/1231

  • Date of REC Opinion

    4 Oct 2022

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion