Cell-Based Immuno-Biosensors Using Microfluidics
Briggs Pugner1, Erik Petersson1, Seedahmed Ahmed1
1Department of Engineering, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 21853, USA.
Insights
Novel cell-based immuno-biosensors offer real-time immune response analysis. Integrating microfluidics and advanced techniques, these biosensors provide sensitive, label-free detection for potential point-of-care diagnostics.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Immunology
- Biosensor Technology
Background:
- Cell-based immuno-biosensors offer real-time immune response monitoring.
- They utilize living immune cells for sensitive, label-free detection of biomarkers.
- Integration with microfluidics enhances control and enables portable systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advancements in microfluidic cell-based immuno-biosensing.
- To highlight the application of these biosensors with various immune cells.
- To discuss challenges and future directions for clinical translation.
Main Methods:
- Review of literature on microfluidic cell-based immuno-biosensing.
- Focus on immune cells like neutrophils, macrophages, T cells, and dendritic cells.
- Integration with advanced imaging, electrical impedance sensing, and machine learning.
Main Results:
- Significant progress in developing sensitive and label-free immuno-biosensing platforms.
- Demonstrated utility in studying immune cell behavior and biomarker detection.
- Emerging applications in high-throughput screening and point-of-care diagnostics.
Conclusions:
- Integrated platforms show great potential for bridging cellular immunology and biosensor engineering.
- Addressing standardization and cell heterogeneity are key for clinical translation.
- Future developments promise enhanced diagnostic capabilities and personalized medicine.
Abstract:
Cell-based immuno-biosensors are novel platforms for studying immune responses of biological cells, with real-time insights more similar to physiological and pathological conditions. These systems utilize living immune cells as their main components, enabling them to detect disease-related biomarkers and cellular traits in a way that is often highly sensitive and label-free. Integration with microfluidics and organ-on-chip technologies has facilitated precise manipulational control over the cellular microenvironment. Not only has this resulted in high-throughput screening, but it also enabled smaller, more portable systems which can be used at the point of care. In this work, we review the recent advance in microfluidic cell-based immuno-biosensing associated with immune cells such as neutrophils, macrophages, T cell and dendrite cells. Some of the exciting developments include fusion with methods such as advanced imaging, electrical impedance sensing and application of machine learning to phenotyping. We will also elaborate on the issues related to the standardization of these systems, cell heterogeneity, and the challenges for translating these technologies for clinical application. Taken together, such integrated platforms have potential to fill the gap left in-between cellular immunology with biosensor engineering.
