Lisa M. Reece

Getting the Right Cells to the Array: Gene Expression Microarray Analysis of Cell Mixtures and Sorted Cells

Most biological samples are cell mixtures. Some basic questions are still unanswered about analyzing these heterogeneous samples using gene expression microarray technology (MAT). How meaningful is a cell mixtures overall gene expression profile (GEP)? Is it necessary to purify the cells of interest before microarray analysis, and how much purity is needed? How much does the purification itself distort the GEP, and how well can the GEP of a small cell subset be recovered?

Mitochondrial glutathione modulates TNF-α-induced endothelial cell dysfunction

Abstract The effect of glutathione (GSH) depletion by L-buthionine-[S,R]-sulphoximine (BSO) on tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced adhesion molecule expression and mononuclear leukocyte adhesion to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was investigated. Cells with marked depletion of cytoplasmic GSH, but with an intact pool of mitochondrial GSH, only slightly enhanced TNF-α-induced E-selectin and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression, compared with the control. However, TNF-α-induced expression of both molecules was markedly enhanced when the mitochondrial GSH pool was diminished to

Detection of pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 by a hybrid microfluidic SPR and molecular imaging cytometry device.

Current methods to screen for bacterial contamination involve using costly reagents such as antibodies or PCR reagents or time‐costly growth in cultures. There is need for portable, real‐time, multiplex pathogen detection technology that can predict the safety of food. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging is a sensitive, label‐free method that can detect the binding of an analyte to a surface by the changes in refractive index that occur upon binding. We have designed a hybrid microfluidic biochip to perform multiplexed detection of single‐celled pathogens using a combination of SPR and fluorescence imaging. The device consists of an array of gold spots, each functionalized with a capture biomolecule targeting a specific pathogen. This biosensor array is enclosed by a polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic flow chamber that delivers a magnetically concentrated sample to be tested. The sample is imaged by SPR on the bottom of the biochip and epi‐fluorescence on the top. The prototype instrument was successfully able to image antibody‐captured E. coli O157:H7 bacteria by SPR and fluorescence imaging. The efficiency of capture of these bacteria by the magnetic particles was determined using spectrophotometric ferric oxide absorbance measurements. The binding of the E. coli to each spot was quantified by measuring the percent of the gold spot area upon which the bacteria was bound and analyzed using NIH ImageJ software. This hybrid imaging approach of pathogenic E. coli detection coupled with an estimate of relative infectivity is shown to be a working example of a testing device for potential foodborne pathogens.

Application of advanced cytometric and molecular technologies to minimal residual disease monitoring

Minimal residual disease monitoring presents a number of theoretical and practical challenges. Recently it has been possible to meet some of these challenges by combining a number of new advanced biotechnologies. To monitor the number of residual tumor cells requires complex cocktails of molecular probes that collectively provide sensitivities of detection on the order of one residual tumor cell per million total cells. Ultra-high-speed, multi parameter flow cytometry is capable of analyzing cells at rates in excess of 100,000 cells/sec. Residual tumor selection marker cocktails can be optimized by use of receiver operating characteristic analysis. New data minimizing techniques when combined with multi variate statistical or neural network classifications of tumor cells can more accurately predict residual tumor cell frequencies. The combination of these techniques can, under at least some circumstances, detect frequencies of tumor cells as low as one cell in a million with an accuracy of over 98 percent correct classification. Detection of mutations in tumor suppressor genes requires insolation of these rare tumor cells and single-cell DNA sequencing. Rare residual tumor cells can be isolated at single cell level by high-resolution single-cell cell sorting. Molecular characterization of tumor suppressor gene mutations can be accomplished using a combination of single- cell polymerase chain reaction amplification of specific gene sequences followed by TA cloning techniques and DNA sequencing. Mutations as small as a single base pair in a tumor suppressor gene of a single sorted tumor cell have been detected using these methods. Using new amplification procedures and DNA micro arrays it should be possible to extend the capabilities shown in this paper to screening of multiple DNA mutations in tumor suppressor and other genes on small numbers of sorted metastatic tumor cells.

Research and development of Zika virus vaccines

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, and is transmitted by Aedes sp. mosquitoes. There are three genetic lineages of ZIKV: the East African, West African and Asian lineages. Until recently, Zika fever (ZF) has normally been considered a rare, mild febrile disease, but reports since 2012 have shown potentially severe complications associated with ZIKV infection, including microcephaly and Guillain–Barré syndrome. There are no licensed vaccines for ZIKV; however, many vaccine platforms/approaches that have been utilised for other flavivirus vaccines are being applied to ZIKV. Given the current outbreak of ZIKV in the Americas with its associated risks to pregnancy, we summarise what is known about the virus, how knowledge of currently licensed flavivirus vaccines can be applied to ZIKV vaccine development and the assessments of potential challenges for ZIKV vaccine testing and evaluation.

Scanning Cytometry with a LEAP: Laser-Enabled Analysis and Processing of Live Cells In Situ

Scanning cytometry now has many of the features (and power) of multiparameter flow cytometry while keeping its own advantages as an imaging technology. Modern instruments combine capabilities of scanning cytometry with the ability to manipulate cells. A new technology, called LEAP™ (laser‐enabled analysis and processing), offers a unique combination of capabilities in cell purification and selective macromolecule delivery (optoinjection).

Detection and isolation of single tumor cells containing mutated DNA sequences

One of the problems in treating breast cancer patients is discovering the gene rearrangements that are occurring while the patient is in apparent remission. Spontaneous mutations in DNA sequences, particularly in tumor suppressor genes, can lead to the evolution of new clones of tumor cells that may be able to evade both clinical treatments and the patients immune surveillance system. Isolation of these tumor clones is extremely difficult. Rare-event analysis and single-cell sorting techniques must be used to successfully detect and isolate these tumor clones. PCR amplification of selected gene sequences followed by TA cloning techniques can then be used to perform single-cell DNA sequencing in those gene regions. In this paper we present preliminary data showing successful detection and single-cell sorting of rare tumor clones from defined cell mixtures. Using TA cloning techniques and PCR we have been able to detect a single base-pair mutation in the PTEN tumor suppressor gene in single cells from a breast cancer cell line. Thus, while extremely difficult, it should in the future be possible to isolate tumor clones form a patient for subsequent molecular analyses of DNA mutations in critical gene regions.

Real-time multivariate statistical classification of cells for flow cytometry and cell sorting: a data mining application for stem cell isolation and tumor purging

Multivariate statistics can be used for visualization of cell subpopulations in multidimensional data space and for classification of cells within that data space. New data mining techniques we have developed, such as subtractive clustering, can be used to find the differences between test and control multiparameter flow cytometric data, e.g. in the problem of human stem cell isolation with tumor purging. They also can provide training data for subsequent multivariate statistical classification techniques such as discriminant function or logistic regression analyses. Using lookup tables, these multivariate statistical calculations can be performed in real-time, and can even include probabilities of misclassification. Thus, the only distinction between off-line classification of cells in data analysis and real-time statistical decision-making for cell sorting is the time limit in which a classification decision must be made. For real-time cell sorting we presently are able to perform these classifications in less than 625 microseconds, corresponding to the time that it takes the cell to travel from the laser intersection point to the sort decision point in a flow cytometer/cell sorter. Statistical decision making and the ability to include the costs of misclassification into that decision process will become important as flow cytometry/cell sorting moves from diagnostics to therapeutics.

Effective proliferation control of human cancer cells using electrical pulses

Since current cancer therapies do not work effectively for all patients, there is a pressing need for alternate, affordable, yet effective treatments for inoperable and chemo-resistant tumors. Presented in this paper are our investigations on the application of short duration (milli and micro seconds) electrical voltage pulses for the treatment of breast carcinoma. For this purpose, electroporation, a pulse power technology, was evaluated for its effect upon the viability and proliferation of human breast cancer cells using a number of voltages and pulse durations. The results indicate the promising potential of electrical pulses to effectively and economically enhance drug transport across the normally impermeable plasma cell membranes and to reduce proliferation.

Design of a multi-stage microfluidics system for high-speed flow cytometry and closed system cell sorting for cytomics

To produce a large increase in total throughput, a multi-stage microfluidics system (US Patent pending) is being developed for flow cytometry and closed system cell sorting. The multi-stage system provides for sorting and re-sorting of cohorts of cells beginning with multiple cells per sorting unit in the initial stages of the microfluidic device and achieving single cell sorting at subsequent stages. This design theoretically promises increases of 2- or 3-orders of magnitude in total cell throughput needed for cytomics applications involving gene chip or proteomics analyses of sorted cell subpopulations. Briefly, silicon wafers and CAD software were used with SU-8 soft photolithography techniques and used as a mold to create Y-shaped, multi-stage microfluidic PDMS chips. PDMS microfluidic chips were fabricated and tested using fluorescent microspheres driven through the chip by a microprocessor-controlled syringe drive and excited on an inverted Nikon fluorescence microscope. Inter-particle spacings were measured and used as experimental data for queuing theory models of multi-stage system performance. A miniaturized electronics system is being developed for a small portable instrument. A variety of LED light sources, waveguides, and APD detectors are being tested to find optimal combinations for creating an LED-APD configuration at the entry points of the Y-junctions for the multi-stage optical PDMS microfluidic chips. The LEDs, APDs, and PDMS chips are being combined into an inexpensive, small portable, closed system sorter suitable for operation inside a standard biohazard hood for both sterility and closed system cell sorting as an alternative to large, expensive, and conventional droplet-based cell sorters.