Robotic microfluidic imaging of blood stimulation- towards high-throughput portable measurement of haemostasis

Abstract

Measuring blood and platelet function is vital for the development and use of drugs that combat cardiovascular disease, such as anti-platelet drugs and other medicines that reduce the risk of thrombosis. We propose combining mass-produced microfluidic devices with open-source robotic instrumentation to enable development of affordable and portable, yet high-throughput and high-performance haematological testing. A time- and distance-resolved fluid flow analysis by Raspberry Pi imaging integrated with controlled sample addition and illumination, enables simultaneous tracking of capillary rise in 120 individual capillaries within 5 minutes. We showed that time-resolved microcapillary rise imaging permits blood function measurement by measuring thrombin-triggered activation of global haemostasis. Thrombin stimulation slowed vertical fluid velocity, consistent with a dynamic increase in viscosity. Microfluidic systems expand haematological testing towards high-efficiency, multi-parameter blood analysis necessary for understanding and improving cardiovascular health.

Keywords

Microfluidics, Haemostasis, Raspberry Pi, Blood analysis

How to Cite

Sarıyer, R. M., Gill, K., Needs, S. H., Hodge, D., Reis, N. M., Jones, C. I. & Edwards, A. D., (2023) “Robotic microfluidic imaging of blood stimulation- towards high-throughput portable measurement of haemostasis”, British Journal of Pharmacy 8(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.5920/bjpharm.1365

Funding

  • EPSRC (grant EPR0224101)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (grant NIHR203362)
  • Turkish Ministry of National Education, Republic of Türkiye
224

Views

44

Downloads

Share

Authors

Rüya Meltem Sarıyer orcid logo (University of Reading)
Kirandeep Gill (University of Bath)
Sarah Helen Needs (University of Reading)
Daniel Hodge (University of Reading)
Nuno M. Reis (University of Bath)
Chris Ian Jones (University of Reading)
Alexander Daniel Edwards (University of Reading)

Download

Issue

Dates

Licence

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Identifiers

Peer Review

This article has been peer reviewed.

File Checksums (MD5)

  • Fulltext: f577708a3bf226114f2a718c654947ce