The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) in Bengaluru has developed a new platform that makes it easier and cheaper to study single cells.
Named OptiDrop, the platform has potential applications in diagnostics, therapeutics, agriculture, and animal health. The novel microfluidic chip-based platform allows for optical sensing of biological samples without the expensive open space, and bulky optical components routinely used in microscopy and flow cytometry-based techniques.
This innovation, developed by C-CAMP’s Discovery to Innovation Accelerator team enables the study of single cells encapsulated in droplets with ease and precision.
“Traditional flow cytometers, used for fluorophore-based biomarker detection, are limited by high costs, bulkiness, and larger sample volume requirements, often restricting their usage to few hospitals, research or diagnostic labs. Optidrop will have game-changing downstream applications, including studying the impact on individual cells during a drug screen, environment control (water contamination counter), detection and sorting of CAR-T cells in immuno- oncotherapeutics, selection of CRISPR-modified single cells and selection of high-efficiency clones in single-cell genomics,” said Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director of C-CAMP and one of the lead authors of the paper.
How it work
The team, consisting of researchers from C-CAMP and IIT-Madras, developed OptiDrop using a proprietary microfluidic chip with integrated optical fibres, photomultiplier tubes and a pulse counter. As each droplet flows through the microfluidic channel lit by an incident beam, light is scattered from its surface and contents. The platform detects fluorescent signals associated with the individual droplet. The output or signals are captured, processed and read live through an in-house developed software.
How much does it cost?
Flow cytometers currently available in the market can cost anywhere between ₹ 45 lakhs and ₹ 1 crore. OptiDrop setup costs only about ₹10 lakh and depending on the requirements of the application, the cost of light sources, detectors and pumps can be reduced by replacing these components with lower-cost alternatives for larger-scale production without compromising the sensitivity of the device.
