@article{saberi-bosari_omary_lavoie_prodromou_day_menegatti_san-miguel_2019, title={Affordable Microfluidic Bead-Sorting Platform for Automated Selection of Porous Particles Functionalized with Bioactive Compounds}, volume={9}, ISSN={["2045-2322"]}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42869-5}, DOI={10.1038/s41598-019-42869-5}, abstractNote={Abstract The ability to rapidly and accurately evaluate bioactive compounds immobilized on porous particles is crucial in the discovery of drugs, diagnostic reagents, ligands, and catalysts. Existing options for solid phase screening of bioactive compounds, while highly effective and well established, can be cost-prohibitive for proof-of-concept and early stage work, limiting its applicability and flexibility in new research areas. Here, we present a low-cost microfluidics-based platform enabling automated screening of small porous beads from solid-phase peptide libraries with high sensitivity and specificity, to identify leads with high binding affinity for a biological target. The integration of unbiased computer assisted image processing and analysis tools, provided the platform with the flexibility of sorting through beads with distinct fluorescence patterns. The customized design of the microfluidic device helped with handling beads with different diameters (~100–300 µm). As a microfluidic device, this portable novel platform can be integrated with a variety of analytical instruments to perform screening. In this study, the system utilizes fluorescence microscopy and unsupervised image analysis, and can operate at a sorting speed of up to 125 beads/hr (~3.5 times faster than a trained operator) providing >90% yield and >90% bead sorting accuracy. Notably, the device has proven successful in screening a model solid-phase peptide library by showing the ability to select beads carrying peptides binding a target protein (human IgG).}, number={1}, journal={SCIENTIFIC REPORTS}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Saberi-Bosari, Sahand and Omary, Mohammad and Lavoie, Ashton and Prodromou, Raphael and Day, Kevin and Menegatti, Stefano and San-Miguel, Adriana}, year={2019}, month={May} }
 @article{saberi-bosari_huayta_san-miguel_2018, title={A microfluidic platform for lifelong high-resolution and high throughput imaging of subtle aging phenotypes in C-elegans}, volume={18}, ISSN={["1473-0189"]}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c8lc00655e}, DOI={10.1039/c8lc00655e}, abstractNote={Aging produces a number of changes in the neuronal structure and function throughout a variety of organisms. These aging-induced changes encompass a wide range of phenotypes, from loss of locomotion ability to defective production of synaptic vesicles. C. elegans is one of the primary systems used to elucidate phenotypes associated with aging processes. Conventional aging studies in C. elegans are typically labor-intensive, low-throughput, and incorporate fluorodeoxyuridine (FUdR) as a sterilizing agent to keep the population age-synchronized throughout the assay. However, FUdR exposure induces lifespan extension, and can potentially mask the phenotypes associated with the natural aging process. In addition, studying cellular or subcellular structures requires anesthetics or adhesives to immobilize nematodes while acquiring high-resolution images. In this platform, we are able to maintain a population (∼1000 worms) age-synchronized throughout its lifespan and perform a series of high-resolution microscopy studies in a drug-free environment. The device is composed of two main interconnected sections, one with the purpose of filtering progeny while keeping the parent population intact, and one for trapping nematodes in individual compartments for microscopy. Immobilization is carried out by decreasing the temperature of the device where nematodes are trapped by placing a heat sink on top of the chip. We were able to perform periodic high-resolution microscopy of fluorescently tagged synapses located at the dorsal side of the nematode's tail throughout the worms' lifespan. To characterize the subtle phenotypes that emerge as nematodes age, computer vision was implemented to perform automated unbiased detection of synapses and quantitative analysis of aging-induced synaptic changes.}, number={20}, journal={LAB ON A CHIP}, publisher={Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)}, author={Saberi-Bosari, Sahand and Huayta, Javier and San-Miguel, Adriana}, year={2018}, month={Oct} }