Development of a microfluidic sample processing integrated robot (micro SPIN-R)

Overview

Microfluidic devices are increasingly relied upon to address the complexity of in-vitro disease models that are intended to mimic and provide insight into in-vivo processes and reactions to novel therapies and in turn, can become powerful companion diagnostic devices essential for predicting and individual patient’s reaction to a particular treatment.  However, as these microfluidic devices become more and more prominent and necessary for addressing the drug screening and disease modeling needs of the industry, we have observed a lack in the progression of automation infrastructure that is being developed in order to streamline the handling, processing, and analysis of these types of devices in the laboratory setting. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the industry demand for these types of companion diagnostic platforms will only continue to grow along with the need for new types of automation tools that address current bottlenecks in microfluidic sample processing.

This project is part of an ongoing collaboration between QUT and Genome Institute of Singapore. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to undertake up to a two year sponsored internship in Singapore.

Research activities

• Design, prototype and build an adaptive, reconfigurable 3D-printed robotic platform specifically tailored to the needs of high-throughput analysis microfluidic device platforms for drug-screening, and immune-oncology disease modelling.
• Write a program for the computer numeric controlled (CNC) integrated robotic system based on radial (rather than cartesian) coordinates to control and manipulate microfluidic devices using an adaptive fixed-plane centrifugation system that is integrated directly with an imaging solution and automated liquid handling.
• Test and characterize the quality of the integrated robotic system with real microfluidic devices via the execution of real laboratory processes (i.e. centrifugation, image capture, device placement and removal, etc).

Outcomes

The proposed project aims to combine aspects of the existing laboratory ecosystem used for sample analysis (i.e. centrifugation, automated handling, microscopy, and computer vision algorithms) into a single intelligently-designed platform that incorporates a computer numeric controlled (CNC) system based on radial coordinates. The candidate will learn product design and development skills through the prototyping and testing process, as well as the importance of process automation and robotic solutions in industries highly reliant on high-throughput screening.

Skills and experience

Candidates are expected to have obtained a First Class Honours (or equivalent) undergraduate degree in an engineering, robotics, or computer science-related discipline. Preference will be given to candidates with prior experience with programming, product design and prototyping, robotics, and integrated systems. Postgraduate research scholarships will be available to top ranking applicants on a competitive basis.

Scholarships

You may be eligible to apply for a research scholarship.

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Keywords

• microfluidics
• robotics
• immuno-oncology

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.