Imec Usa Nanoelectronics Design Center

NEW START GRANT

HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION REQUIRES THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL DEVICES AND DIAGNOSTICS FOR A MORE INDIVIDUALIZED AND AUTONOMOUS PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN ORDER TO MITIGATE HEALTH RISKS AND ENSURE PERFORMANCE AND MISSION SUCCESS. DEPLOYABLE MEDICAL DEVICES WITH MINIMAL INSTRUMENTATION ARE A PRIORITY. THE GOAL IN PERSONALIZED MEDICINE IS TO BRING ACCURATE AND INSTANTANEOUS ACTIONABLE DIAGNOSTIC TESTING AT ANY POINT OF NEED TO ENABLE FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENT HEALTHCARE AND SPACE MEDICINE CAN BENEFIT FROM INCORPORATING THOSE PRACTICES IN SPACE EXPLORATION MISSIONS. THIS PROPOSAL IS CENTERED ON A PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY BASED ON A NOVEL SILICON CHIP CONCEPT CALLED NANOFLUIDIC PROCESSOR (NFP) THAT IS EMBEDDED IN A SINGLE-USE LOW-COST TEST CARD. THE NFP FULLY PASSIVELY CONTROLS A COMPLETE SET OF SAMPLE MANIPULATIONS WITHOUT THE NEED OF EXTERNAL ACTUATION OR INSTRUMENTATION. THIS IS POSSIBLE SINCE SAMPLE MANIPULATIONS HAPPEN SOLELY BY MEANS OF CAPILLARY FORCES ENABLED BY PRECISELY MANUFACTURED GEOMETRIC MICROSTRUCTURES INSIDE THE SILICON CHIP. AS A CONSEQUENCE THE OPERATION OF THE NFP CAN THEORETICALLY ALSO TAKE PLACE IN GRAVITY-INDEPENDENT ENVIRONMENTS. ADDITIONALLY CAPABILITIES SUCH AS THERMOCYCLING FOR NUCLEIC ACID DETECTION (E.G. USEFUL FOR THE DETECTION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES SUCH AS INFLUENZA) AND OPTICAL WAVEGUIDES FOR THE DETECTION OF PROTEINS AND SMALL MOLECULES (E.G. USEFUL FOR THE MONITORING OF BONE DEGRADATION OR CARDIAC MARKERS) CAN BE INTEGRATED INTO THE NFP TO BROADEN THE CAPABILITIES OF THE PLATFORM TO A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF ANALYTES OF DIAGNOSTIC VALUE MEASURED NOWADAYS ON EARTH. AFTER THE SAMPLE IS BEING PROCESSED BY THE NFP THESE ANALYTES ARE DETECTED OUT BY A COMPACT LIGHTWEIGHT READER SIMILAR TO A CREDIT CARD AND ITS CARD READER. THE NFP WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED BY IMEC THE WORLD-LEADING R&D CENTER FOR NANO ELECTRONICS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND IS NOW BEING FURTHER DEVELOPED AT THE IMEC SPIN-OFF MIDIAGNOSTICS. CURRENTLY THE NFP HAS REACHED THE STAGE OF AN INTEGRATED TEST CARD PROTOTYPE (TRL4) THAT PERFORMS A COMPLETE CELL BLOOD COUNT OR CBC WITH DIFFERENTIAL FROM A DROP OF BLOOD. A CBC TEST IS ONE OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY ORDERED TESTS BY DOCTORS AND PROVIDES RELEVANT INSIGHTS INTO AN INDIVIDUAL S HEALTH STATUS. THE FOLLOWING IS A PROPOSAL FOR A PLAN TO TEST THE NFP SYSTEM IN AN ENVIRONMENT SUBJECTED TO DIFFERENT GRAVITATIONAL LOADS BEFORE FINAL TESTING IN LOW-EARTH ORBIT (LEO) ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS) AT A LATER STAGE. AS MENTIONED ABOVE THE PROPRIETARY MICROFLUIDIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE NFP ENABLES THE DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE AND SOLUTIONS IN A GRAVITY-INDEPENDENT MANNER HOWEVER THIS HAS NOT BEEN TESTED TO DATE. PARABOLIC FLIGHT WITH ITS ASSOCIATED GRAVITATIONAL FLUCTUATIONS IS THE IDEAL PLATFORM TO TEST THE ROBUSTNESS OF THE SYSTEM. THE LENGTH OF THE FLIGHT ALLOWS FOR SUFFICIENT TIME TO OPERATE SEVERAL PARALLEL AND SEQUENTIAL RUNS AFTER WHICH A SOLID PROOF-OF-CONCEPT WOULD BE COMPLETED. THE CBC TEST CARD IS THE FIRST OF A SUITE OF DIAGNOSTICS SOLUTIONS INTENDED FOR FURTHER CONSOLIDATED BIOCHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS TESTS IN POINT-OF-CARE SETTINGS. THIS PLATFORM VERSATILITY IS IDEAL FOR USE IN THE VEHICLES AND HABITATS VENTURING ONTO THE MOON AND MARS IN THE FUTURE. BY TESTING THE FUNCTION OF THIS FIRST TEST CARD THE PROOF-OF-CONCEPT FOR DEVICES BASED ON THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL BE ACHIEVED THEREFORE PERMITTING THEIR CONSIDERATION FOR OPERATIONAL USE IN SPACE MEDICINE. IN SUMMARY WHILE SEVERAL MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES HAVE BEEN EVALUATED FOR APPLICATIONS IN HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT THIS IS THE FIRST SILICON MICROFLUIDIC PLATFORM OF ITS KIND (GIVEN IT IS SOLELY ACTUATED BY CAPILLARY FORCES) WHICH MAY PROVIDE A TRUE LOW MASS/VOLUME/POWER SOLUTION FOR THE NUMEROUS DIAGNOSTICS/BIOANALYTICAL NEEDS TO MONITOR CREW HEALTH STATUS. THIS ADDRESSES THE NEED FOR TECHNOLOGIES THAT SUPPORT HUMAN OPERATIONS AND FURTHER COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY BOTH IN EARTH ORBIT AND BEYOND IN CISLUNAR SPACE.

RESEARCH IN THE UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT OF SPACE HAS LED TO NUMEROUS SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS WITH TRANSLATIONAL APPLICATIONS ON EARTH AND CONTINUED INVESTIGATION IS CRITICAL TO THE PROGRESSION OF HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION.

ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY RECORDING OF NEURONAL NETWORKS DURING SUBORBITAL SPACEFLIGHT

THIS STATEMENT OF WORK ENCOMPASSES THREE PROJECTS WITH SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS FROM DR. SUSANA ZANELLO AT IMEC USA FLORIDA. THREE PROJECTS WERE AWARDED IN RESPONSE TO THREE SEPARATE NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT SOLICITATIONS EACH LISTED BELOW. THIS NASA GRANT WILL COVER THREE PROJECTS ALREADY UNDERWAY FOR WHICH DR. ZANELLO IS THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR EACH LISTED AND DESCRIBED INDIVIDUALLY HEREIN. PROJECT 1 TITLE: EVALUATION OF HINDLIMB SUSPENSION AS A MODEL TO STUDY OPHTHALMIC COMPLICATIONS IN MICROGRAVITY: OCULAR STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION AND ASSOCIATION WITH INTRACRANIAL PRESSURE SOLICITATION: NNJ11ZSA002NA: RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT TO SUPPORT CREW HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE IN SPACE EXPLORATION MISSIONS PROJECT 2 TITLE: A GENE EXPRESSION AND HISTOLOGIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF CEREBROSPINAL FLUID PRODUCTION AND OUTFLOW IN HINDLIMB SUSPENDED RATS SOLICITATION: NNJ13ZSA002N-FLAGSHIP: NASA RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT TO SUPPORT CREW HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE IN SPACE EXPLORATION MISSIONS PROJECT 3 TITLE: MULTIMODAL MODELING TOWARDS NONINVASIVE ASSESSMENT OF INTRACRANIAL PRESSURE IN WEIGHTLESSNESS AND BIOMARKER IDENTIFICATION OF PREDISPOSITION TO VIIP SYNDROME SOLICITATION: NNJ13ZSA002N-ILSRA: INTERNATIONAL LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT (ILSRA)