C-CAMP develops new OptiDrop platform to study single cells
The novel microfluidic chipbased platform allows for optical sensing of biological samples without the expensive open space, and bulky optical components routinely used in microscopy
The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (CCAMP) 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 chipbased platform allows for optical sensing of biological samples without the expensive open space, and bulky optical components routinely used in microscopy and flow cytometrybased techniques.
This innovation, developed by CCAMP’s Discovery to Innovation Accelerator team enables the study of single cells encapsulated in droplets with ease and precision.
“Traditional flow cytometers, used for fluorophorebased 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 gamechanging downstream applications, including studying the impact on individual cells during a drug screen, environment control (water contamination counter), detection and sorting of CART cells in immunooncotherapeutics, selection of CRISPRmodified single cells and selection of highefficiency clones in singlecell genomics,” said Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director of CCAMP and one of the lead authors of the paper.
How it work
The team, consisting of researchers from CCAMP and IITMadras, 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 inhouse developed software.
It enables the study of single cells encapsulated in droplets with ease and precision
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 lowercost alternatives for largerscale production.