I-Corps: Development and Commercial Feasibility of a Microfluidic Drug Discovery Kit

Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed innovation uses microfluidic technology to rapidly generate fluid mixtures of drugs with fine increments in their proportions to assist with combination drug development. Although automated pipetting systems and well plates have been the workhorse for primary drug screening where thousands of individual compounds are tested, few, if any, are flexible for screening combination drugs because of the complexity involved in scanning a large number of drug-and-dose combinations. This technology involves injecting plugs of drug solutions into a uniquely designed microfluidic device that allows autonomous mixing and dilution. This approach allows mixing drugs in very fine increments with significantly less consumption of drug samples and reagents. Development of a microfluidic drop technology for combination drug discovery may accelerate the process of drug screening and discovery of new or combination drugs. It would help to reduce the drug development time cycle and cost as it facilitates fluid mixtures of drugs in very small increments. Outside of the pharmaceutical industry, this technology could also play a role in combinational mixing of consumer products and biomaterials.