Microfluidics enabled multi-omics triple-shot mass spectrometry for cell-based therapies.

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Analytical Chemistry
• Cellular Biology

Background:

• Cell-based therapies are revolutionizing medicine but face challenges in mechanism identification, assay development, and scalable manufacturing.
• The complexity of living cells necessitates robust methods for identifying and measuring critical quality attributes (CQAs).
• Current analytical tools for CQAs are limited in scope and speed, hindering therapy development and manufacturing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential of microfluidic-enabled mass spectrometry (MS) for comprehensive CQA characterization in cell-based therapies.
• To focus on secretome, intracellular metabolome, and surfaceome biomarkers for enhanced analysis.
• To highlight the need for innovative microfluidic approaches for surface marker analysis.

Main Methods:

• Leveraging microfluidic platforms for sampling and processing of cell culture components.
• Implementing mass spectrometry (MS) for high-throughput analysis of biomarkers.
• Investigating the integration of secretome, metabolome, and surfaceome analyses on a unified platform.

Main Results:

• Microfluidic MS platforms show potential for rapid, localized screening of cell cultures.
• Existing microfluidic tools are effective for secretome and intracellular metabolome analysis.
• Rapid isolation and enrichment methods for surfaceome analysis remain a bottleneck.

Conclusions:

• Microfluidic-enabled MS can comprehensively characterize CQAs across multiple 'omes' (secretome, metabolome, surfaceome).
• Integration of innovative microfluidic surface marker analysis is crucial for advancing cell-based therapy characterization.
• This integrated approach promises to revolutionize cell-based therapy development, manufacturing, efficacy, and patient accessibility.