TRTech-PGR: Crowd-on-chip: a microfluidics platform for plant cell biology plant growth studies

The project seeks to develop a “miniaturization” of plant factories, using aggregates of plant cells in a small microfluidic device that captures cells and regulates the flow of nutrients and biochemicals like plant growth hormones. The device is expected to mimic the hormonal and mechanical environment, allowing the cells to develop and function as they do in the plant. The concept is similar to the way medical scientists use the organ-on-chip devices that mimic the function of a liver, kidney, or other organs to understand how they work. In a similar way, the plant microfluidic device can be used to test conditions that lead plant cells to produce useful compounds or carry out important functions. For example, the device has potential as an experimental tool that will allow plant biologists to study cell division and regeneration--both critical to developing biotechnology applications. The proposal seeks to improve a prototype version of a microfluidic device by automating plant growth hormone delivery and adding the capability to generate variable gradients, both of which will better mimic the growth and functional environment of cells in the plant. Plants are natural factories that produce the food and medicinal compounds upon which humans rely, including anti-cancer, antimalarial, and other drugs. The proposed development of the device can help in finding cost-effective ways to develop and scale up the production of new natural medicinal compounds. The project will also train New York City public school children in plant biology.

New technologies that harness the plant’s ability to produce compounds hold great promise in understanding and utilizing the properties of the plant cell. Going beyond the use of microfluidics to isolate single-cells for gene expression studies, microfluidics can also be used to tightly control and mimic the hormonal, nutritional, and mechanical environment of plant cells and tissues. Thus allowing the study of plant cell processes under stressful or other conditions. Further refinements to the device could ultimately be used to steer plant cells to produce desired compounds in vivo. The project proposes to develop a microfluidic device that controls the chemical environment of isolated plant cells while exerting mechanical forces on cells to mimic conditions in the tissues and whole plant. It builds upon a successful prototype design that is capable of capturing groups of cells in cups, maintaining them for weeks in a culture medium, and allowing for cell wall formation and cell division. This research is translational and will result in new biotechnology.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Award Number: 2526972
Principal Investigator: Kenneth Birnbaum
Funds Obligated: $350,000
State: NY