Design Principles for Microfluidic Biomedical Diagnostics in Space

Nelson, Emily S.

doi:10.5772/21669

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…The onboard laboratory miniaturization included also the fluidic components (e.g., pumps, valves, electronics), thus paving the way to the use of advanced biosensors for screening food safety and water quality in space (Roda et al, 2018). Following the proofs of concept and wearable technologies suited to monitor astronauts' health, the biosensing diagnostic instrumentation, most reasonably based on electrochemical and optical detectors, was argued as a secondary future option for in-flight water biochemical analyses (Choi et al, 2018;Limero and Wallace, 2017;Nelson, 2011). In particular, the amperometric biosensors were proved sensitive to monitor different water analytes, chemical contaminants (e.g., pesticides, organophosphates, carbamates), and numerous microbial biomarkers successfully targeted to detect the major microbiological agents, food-and water-borne pathogens (e.g., E. coli, Salmonella, L. monocytogenes, C. jejuni, B. cereus, M. smegmatis) (Grieshaber et al, 2008;Velusamy et al, 2010).…”

Section: System Miniaturization and Future Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, selected devices and their supporting reagents must remain viable for years, while operating safely and reliably in extreme conditions (e.g., in the absence of gravity). Technology flexibility is also critical, since monitoring systems should be able to accept different kind of samples spanning from biomedical (e.g., blood, urine, saliva samples, routine chemistry, cell cultures) to water and environmental samples (Nelson, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water and Microbial Monitoring Technologies towards the Near Future Space Exploration

Amalfitano¹,

Levantesi²,

Copetti³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Space exploration is demanding longer lasting human missions and water resupply from Earth will become increasingly unrealistic. In a near future, the spacecraft water monitoring systems will require technological advances to promptly identify and counteract contingent events of waterborne microbial contamination, posing health risks to astronauts with lowered immune responsiveness. The search for bio-analytical approaches, alternative to those applied on Earth by cultivation-dependent methods, is pushed by the compelling need to limit waste disposal and avoid microbial regrowth from analytical carryovers. Prospective technologies will be selected only if first validated in a flight-like environment, by following basic principles, advantages, and limitations beyond their current applications on Earth. Starting from the water monitoring activities applied on the International Space Station, we provide a critical overview of the nucleic acid amplification-based approaches (i.e., loop-mediated isothermal amplification, quantitative PCR, and high-throughput sequencing) and early-warning methods for total microbial load assessments (i.e., ATP-metry, flow cytometry), already used at a high readiness level aboard crewed space vehicles. Our findings suggest that the forthcoming space applications of mature technologies will be necessarily bounded by a compromise between analytical performances (e.g., speed to results, identification depth, reproducibility, multiparametricity) and detrimental technical requirements (e.g., reagent usage, waste production, operator skills, crew time). As space exploration progresses toward extended missions to Moon and Mars, miniaturized systems that also minimize crew involvement in their end-to-end operation are likely applicable on the long-term and suitable for the in-flight water and microbiological research.

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Section: System Miniaturization and Future Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water and Microbial Monitoring Technologies towards the Near Future Space Exploration

Amalfitano¹,

Levantesi²,

Copetti³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Analytical devices suitable for spaceflight must minimally utilize onboard resources and operate under microgravity conditions, which also complicates the collection and management of biological samples. Additionally, these devices must function in the presence of relatively high levels of radiation [24,25]. Moreover, while specific studies are yet to be reported, it is reasonable to assume that in microgravity, the distinct conditions of diffusion processes and the absence of convection may also modify interactions between nanoparticles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

APHRODITE: A Compact Lab-on-Chip Biosensor for the Real-Time Analysis of Salivary Biomarkers in Space Missions

Nardi,

Davis,

Sansolini

et al. 2024

Biosensors

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One of the main challenges to be faced in deep space missions is to protect the health and ensure the maximum efficiency of the crew by preparing methods of prevention and in situ diagnosis. Indeed, the hostile environment causes important health problems, ranging from muscle atrophy, osteopenia, and immunological and metabolic alterations due to microgravity, to an increased risk of cancer caused by exposure to radiation. It is, therefore, necessary to provide new methods for the real-time measurement of biomarkers suitable for deepening our knowledge of the effects of space flight on the balance of the immune system and for allowing the monitoring of the astronaut’s health during long-term missions. APHRODITE will enable human space exploration because it fills this void that affects both missions in LEO and future missions to the Moon and Mars. Its scientific objectives are the design, production, testing, and in-orbit demonstration of a compact, reusable, and reconfigurable system for performing the real-time analysis of oral fluid samples in manned space missions. In the frame of this project, a crew member onboard the ISS will employ APHRODITE to measure the selected target analytes, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), in oral fluid, in four (plus one additional desired session) separate experiment sessions. The paper addresses the design of the main subsystems of the analytical device and the preliminary results obtained during the first implementations of the device subsystems and testing measurements on Earth. In particular, the system design and the experiment data output of the lab-on-chip photosensors and of the front-end readout electronics are reported in detail along with preliminary chemical tests for the duplex competitive CL-immunoassay for the simultaneous detection of cortisol and DHEA-S. Different applications also on Earth are envisaged for the APHRODITE device, as it will be suitable for point-of-care testing applications (e.g., emergency medicine, bioterrorism, diagnostics in developing countries, etc.).

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High-order discontinuous Galerkin methods for coupled thermoconvective flows under gravity modulation

Papanicolaou

Aristotelous

2015

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Design Principles for Microfluidic Biomedical Diagnostics in Space

Cited by 3 publications

References 88 publications

Water and Microbial Monitoring Technologies towards the Near Future Space Exploration

Water and Microbial Monitoring Technologies towards the Near Future Space Exploration

APHRODITE: A Compact Lab-on-Chip Biosensor for the Real-Time Analysis of Salivary Biomarkers in Space Missions

High-order discontinuous Galerkin methods for coupled thermoconvective flows under gravity modulation

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