Newsletter_07-2024_EN

On-chip flow cytometer using integrated photonics paves the way
for high-throughput cell analysis
Scalable on-chip detection of
human white blood cells
Imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics
and digital technologies, and Sarcura GmbH, an Austrian
early-stage technology start-up, present their proof-of-concept
on-chip flow cytometer using integrated photonics. Published on
20th May 2024 in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature Publishing
Group, this innovation offers a unique platform for the detection
and discrimination of human leukocytes and marks a significant
stride towards cost-effective, scalable, and highly parallelized cell
analysis.
Accurate identification of human cells is a
key operation in modern medicine, pivotal
for understanding disease mechanisms and
advancing targeted and personalized treatments.
With the advent of cell manufacturing,
living cells can now be engineered to
function as treatments, notably in groundbreaking
therapies like CAR-T immune cell
therapy for cancer. The ability to identify
these therapeutic cells in complex cell products
at high throughput is crucial, and often
time sensitive.
The method of choice today is flow cytometry,
which enables characterization of
cell populations based on the physical and
chemical characteristics of individual cells
as they flow past a laser. However, the current
implementation include bulky instrumentation,
complex and manual workflows
(posing contamination risks), and high
operational costs. These challenges hinder
widespread availability and adoption of cell
therapies in decentralized settings.
To address these limitations, imec
harnesses its expertise in CMOS
technology, photonics, and fluidics to
automate, miniaturize and parallelize flow
cytometry. In a study published in Scientific
Reports imec, together with Sarcura, unveils
an on-chip flow cytometer using integrated
photonics. Fabricated on imec’s 200mm
CMOS pilot line, the opto-fluidic chip features
a pioneering material stack facilitating
both cell illumination and capturing of scattered
light through waveguide optics, and
precise cell delivery to the detection points
using microfluidic channels.
“Silicon photonics, as successfully demonstrated
in this novel photonic chip, is
the revolutionary and essential building
block that merges single-cell detection capabilities
with massive parallelization on
a dramatically miniaturized footprint. This
breakthrough opens new possibilities for
addressing previously unsolved challenges
in applications such as cell therapy manu-
Figure 2: (Left) Schematic cross-section of the chip layer stack, indicating light coupling
into the chip, cell illumination, and collection and detection of cell scattering signals.
(Right) Experimental scatter plot of a full peripheral blood mononuclear sample
measured with the on-chip flow cytometer.
Figure 1: Picture of the on-chip flow cytometer.
facturing,“ states Daniela Buchmayr, CEO
and Co-founder of Sarcura.
Niels Verellen, Scientific Director at
imec, remarked, “We have demonstrated,
for the first time, that a monolithically integrated
biophotonic chip can be used to collect
optical scattering signals that allow the
discrimination of lymphocytes and monocytes
from a patient’s blood sample, rivaling
the performance of commercial cytometers.
The main advantage lies in the potential for
dense parallelization of multiple flow channels
to boost the system throughput.” In a
next phase, the compact, alignment-free
design should enable billions of cells to be
identified within a limited amount of time.
Crucially, the chip architecture seamlessly
integrates with imec’s previously
developed bubble jet cell sorting module,
compatible with wafer-scale fabrication.
Furthermore, the photonic components and
layout can be tailored to suit specific applications.
This proof-of-concept therefore
marks a substantial leap towards cost-effective,
scalable, and highly parallelized cell
sorting platforms.
IMEC Belgium
BL 3001 Leuven
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