Newly emerging technologies are rapidly changing conventional approaches to organ transplantation.In the modern era,the key challenges to transplantation include(1)how to best individualize and possibly eliminate the ...Newly emerging technologies are rapidly changing conventional approaches to organ transplantation.In the modern era,the key challenges to transplantation include(1)how to best individualize and possibly eliminate the need for life-long immunosuppression and(2)how to expand the donor pool suitable for human transplantation.This article aims to provide readers with an updated review of three new technologies that address these challenges.First,single-cell RNA sequencing technology is rapidly evolving and has recently been employed in settings related to transplantation.The new sequencing data indicate an unprecedented cellular heterogeneity within organ transplants,as well as exciting new molecular signatures involved in alloimmune responses.Second,sophisticated nanotechnology platforms provide a means of therapeutically delivering immune modulating reagents to promote transplant tolerance.Tolerogenic nanoparticles with regulatory molecules and donor antigens are capable of targeting host immune responses with tremendous precision,which,in some cases,results in donor-specific tolerance.Third,CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology has the potential to precisely remove immunogenic molecules while inserting desirable regulatory molecules.This technology is particularly useful in generating genetically modified pigs for xenotransplantation to solve the issue of the shortage of human organs.Collectively,these new technologies are positioning the transplant community for major breakthroughs that will significantly advance transplant medicine.展开更多
Separating plasma from whole blood is an important sample processing technique required for fundamental biomedical research,medical diagnostics,and therapeutic applications.Traditional protocols for plasma isolation r...Separating plasma from whole blood is an important sample processing technique required for fundamental biomedical research,medical diagnostics,and therapeutic applications.Traditional protocols for plasma isolation require multiple centrifugation steps or multiunit microfluidic processing to sequentially remove large red blood cells(RBCs)and white blood cells(WBCs),followed by the removal of small platelets.Here,we present an acoustofluidic platform capable of efficiently removing RBCs,WBCs,and platelets from whole blood in a single step.By leveraging differences in the acoustic impedances of fluids,our device generates significantly greater forces on suspended particles than conventional microfluidic approaches,enabling the removal of both large blood cells and smaller platelets in a single unit.As a result,undiluted human whole blood can be processed by our device to remove both blood cells and platelets(>90%)at low voltages(25 Vpp).The ability to successfully remove blood cells and platelets from plasma without altering the properties of the proteins and antibodies present creates numerous potential applications for our platform in biomedical research,as well as plasma-based diagnostics and therapeutics.Furthermore,the microfluidic nature of our device offers advantages such as portability,cost efficiency,and the ability to process small-volume samples.展开更多
基金This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health(R01 EB009910)(A.D.and X.L.)the Chinese Scholarship Council(S.Y.).
文摘Newly emerging technologies are rapidly changing conventional approaches to organ transplantation.In the modern era,the key challenges to transplantation include(1)how to best individualize and possibly eliminate the need for life-long immunosuppression and(2)how to expand the donor pool suitable for human transplantation.This article aims to provide readers with an updated review of three new technologies that address these challenges.First,single-cell RNA sequencing technology is rapidly evolving and has recently been employed in settings related to transplantation.The new sequencing data indicate an unprecedented cellular heterogeneity within organ transplants,as well as exciting new molecular signatures involved in alloimmune responses.Second,sophisticated nanotechnology platforms provide a means of therapeutically delivering immune modulating reagents to promote transplant tolerance.Tolerogenic nanoparticles with regulatory molecules and donor antigens are capable of targeting host immune responses with tremendous precision,which,in some cases,results in donor-specific tolerance.Third,CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology has the potential to precisely remove immunogenic molecules while inserting desirable regulatory molecules.This technology is particularly useful in generating genetically modified pigs for xenotransplantation to solve the issue of the shortage of human organs.Collectively,these new technologies are positioning the transplant community for major breakthroughs that will significantly advance transplant medicine.
基金support from the National Institutes of Health(R01GM132603,R01GM141055,R44HL140800,and R21HD102790)Z.M.acknowledges the financial support from the China Scholarship CouncilE.C.was funded by the Hartwell Foundation.
文摘Separating plasma from whole blood is an important sample processing technique required for fundamental biomedical research,medical diagnostics,and therapeutic applications.Traditional protocols for plasma isolation require multiple centrifugation steps or multiunit microfluidic processing to sequentially remove large red blood cells(RBCs)and white blood cells(WBCs),followed by the removal of small platelets.Here,we present an acoustofluidic platform capable of efficiently removing RBCs,WBCs,and platelets from whole blood in a single step.By leveraging differences in the acoustic impedances of fluids,our device generates significantly greater forces on suspended particles than conventional microfluidic approaches,enabling the removal of both large blood cells and smaller platelets in a single unit.As a result,undiluted human whole blood can be processed by our device to remove both blood cells and platelets(>90%)at low voltages(25 Vpp).The ability to successfully remove blood cells and platelets from plasma without altering the properties of the proteins and antibodies present creates numerous potential applications for our platform in biomedical research,as well as plasma-based diagnostics and therapeutics.Furthermore,the microfluidic nature of our device offers advantages such as portability,cost efficiency,and the ability to process small-volume samples.
