Extraction of circulating nucleic acids from human blood from SNBTS
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Extraction of circulating nucleic acids from human blood from Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) via microfluidic processing
IRAS ID
249649
Contact name
Maiwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Heriot-Watt University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
EPSRC funding, EP/R0039; Rose trees Trust funding, A1579/M717
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Circulating nucleic acids (cNA) are biomarkers ubiquitously present in human blood. Their potential application for screening, prognosis and monitoring of various diseases, such as cancer, has been a focus of research. Extraction of cNA from human plasma could provide material for fast and robust diagnostic data, without the need for invasive tissue sampling. However the bottleneck restricting their clinical implementation is the pre-analytical step. The aim of this project is to develop novel sustainable clinically-relevant micro and meso-scale fluidic technologies for medical blood sample preparation, preserving cNA integrity and reducing the time to result for critical tests. We will develop microfluidic chips, which are devices operating with very small volumes (from pL to uL), capable of extracting nucleic acids from blood plasma in an automated manner. We will use blood samples from the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS), which are taken as a part of routine blood donations and would be otherwise discarded. Then we will compare our chips to the existing laborious technologies by extracting, quantifying and characterising circulating nucleic acids from the anonymous SNBTS blood samples. Our tool has a potential to be deployed in various medical settings, including field hospitals, at the patient bedside and in developing countries providing rapid diagnostic device for various diseases and conditions.
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
18/NI/0148
Date of REC Opinion
14 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion