2020 R&D 100 Award for ChemSitu Microfluidic Technology for In Situ Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Microfluidic Devices

Prize: Honorary award

Description

The convergence of microfluidics and biology has produced numerous “biology”-on-a-chip devices that mimic organs, vascular networks and plant-microbe systems, enabling exploration of dynamic biochemical processes. But current devices provide only limited spatial and chemical information.

ORNL’s ChemSitu analysis approach allows in situ quantifiable chemical characterization at any location within the microfluidic device. Analyte is extracted into a flowing solvent probe and characterized by mass spectrometry – allowing for measurement of hundreds of molecules simultaneously.

Enabling mass spectrometry to characterize living biology in microfluidic systems for the first time, ChemSitu’s location-specific chemical profiling may prove invaluable in studying molecular transport across biological interfaces, which is important in toxicology and pharmacology.

Funding for the project came from the DOE Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research, Bioimaging Science Program.

The ORNL team was led by John Cahill and included Vilmos Kertesz and Scott Retterer.

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