茄子直播

New, no-needle prenatal genetic disease test at 茄子直播 gets Connaught Fund support

Among nine innovative research projects at 茄子直播 sharing $790,000 in funding through 2016-17 Connaught Innovation Award
Photo of Aaron Wheeler
Professor Aaron Wheeler is among nine 茄子直播 researchers from a variety of faculties receiving funding from the Connaught Fund

Imagine a simple prenatal diagnostic test that checks for genetic diseases such as Down syndrome but has zero risk for the mother and unborn baby.

Aaron Wheeler, a chemistry professor at the University of Toronto who collaborates with experts in prenatal screening at Mount Sinai Hospital, says he believes his team鈥檚 digital microfluidic laser cell lysis platform holds great promise as an alternative to amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) 鈥 the current gold standards in prenatal diagnosis, both of which are invasive procedures.

鈥淲e believe we鈥檒l be able to test for many genetic diseases but at no risk,鈥 he explains. 鈥淭here鈥檚 also reason to believe we鈥檒l be able to conduct these tests five to six weeks earlier.鈥

Currently, CVS tests can be done after 13 weeks and amnio after 15 weeks, giving parents vital information to help make decisions about the pregnancy.

This month, Wheeler is among nine researchers from a variety of faculties sharing $790,000 in funding from the Connaught Fund as part of the annual Connaught Innovation Award.

See below for a full list of this year鈥檚 recipients.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to congratulate all of the recipients of this year鈥檚 Connaught Innovation Award,鈥 said Professor Vivek Goel, 茄子直播鈥檚 vice-president of research and innovation. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not only a recognition of the excellence of the work, it鈥檚 also an important boost by the Connaught Fund to help accelerate the development of promising technology that has a potential for great impact, as well as support its commercialization.鈥

Wheeler and his team, who are known for developing lab-on-a-chip techniques for applications in chemistry, biology and medicine, have joined forces on the project with Dr. Elena Kolomietz, Dr. David Chitayat and others at Mount Sinai, which is one of nine 茄子直播 affiliated hospitals in Toronto. 

Finding a non-invasive way to implement a comprehensive prenatal diagnostic test is an important mission for the hospital, which delivers approximately 7,000 babies each year, the highest volume of births in Ontario. It鈥檚 also one of the largest perinatal centres in North America.

鈥淭his would be the ultimate prenatal diagnostic test,鈥 says Kolomietz, who is also an associate professor in laboratory medicine and pathobiology at 茄子直播.

For the past four years, her team has been collecting cervical mucosal specimens 鈥 taken in a similar manner to a Pap smear 鈥 which are 鈥渁 perfect test case for our new technology,鈥 Wheeler says.

These specimens, collected five to 14 weeks after conception, contain fetal cells from placenta that is shed into the uterus. Even a small number of intact cells should be sufficient for a comprehensive whole genome analysis.

But the wrinkle is that the specimens contain both maternal and fetal cells. 鈥淚t is a needle in a haystack problem,鈥 Wheeler says.

Isolating the individual fetal cells 鈥 without contamination from the maternal cells or damage to their DNA 鈥 is tricky. Using existing methods met with limited success for Kolomietz and her team. So she looked for an alternative solution and up popped Wheeler鈥檚 work.

鈥淚 sent Dr. Wheeler an email and we had a meeting and he was immediately excited about the project,鈥 she recalls. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a delight to work with his group.鈥

Using Wheeler鈥檚 digital microfluidic laser cell lysis platform, the fetal cells will adhere in situ and grow on a specially designed microfluidic device rather than using suspended cells in flowing tubes. The researchers will stain and mark the fetal cells and a laser will blast the cells to break them open. Tiny fluid droplets containing the cells鈥 contents will be collected and analyzed for genetic anomalies.

鈥淚t sounds a little science fictiony,鈥 he admits but says 鈥渙ptimistically鈥 the technology could be widely available in five years鈥 time for pregnant women if the tests function well.

Kolomietz is hopeful it could be even sooner.

鈥淥nce we solve the problem of cell isolation, everything else is in place,鈥 she said, envisioning a future that sees women having the specimens collected by a nurse or family doctor during a regular Pap smear as soon as their pregnancy is confirmed.

And, the platform鈥檚 prenatal usage is only the beginning.

鈥淲e propose that this system may be useful for evaluating adherent-cell heterogeneity for a wide range of applications,鈥 Wheeler says. 鈥淭hat is one of the reasons that we are grateful for this funding from the Connaught Foundation, which will allow us to explore.鈥  

In addition to Wheeler, the recipients of this year鈥檚 Connaught Innovation Award are:

 

 

Robert Bonin of the Faculty of Pharmacy for 鈥淎utomated behavioural platform for rapid in vivo pharmaceutical testing鈥

 

 


 

David Fleet of the department of computer science for 鈥淎dvanced algorithms to discover protein structures for drug design鈥

 

 

 

 

Glenn Gulak of the department of electrical & computer engineering for 鈥淪ecure homomorphic search for confidential approval and verification of bank card and online purchases鈥

 

 

 

 

 

Donald Kirk of the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry for 鈥淓lectrochemical glycerol carbonate production鈥

 

 

 

 

Cindi Morshead of the department of surgery for 鈥淧romoting neurorepair via novel biphasic electrical stimulation therapy鈥

 




 

 

Paul Santerre of the Faculty of Dentistry for 鈥淩eFilx: A soft tissue filler for the reconstruction of breast tissues defects鈥

 

 

 

 

Xiao Yu (Shirley) Wu of the Faculty of Pharmacy for 鈥淚ntelligent nanoparticle theranostics for CNS diseases鈥

 


 

 

Andrei Yudin of the department of chemistry for 鈥淎n enabling macrocyclization technology for the development of pharmaceutical agents鈥