Microfluidic cell culture systems with integrated sensors for drug screening

Cell-based testing is a key step in drug screening for cancer treatments. A microfluidic platform can permit more precise control of the cell culture microenvironment, such as gradients in soluble factors. These small-scale devices also permit tracking of low cell numbers. As a new screening paradigm, a microscale system for integrated cell culture and drug screening promises to provide a simple, scalable tool to apply standardized protocols used in cellular response assays. With the ability to dynamically control the microenvironment, we can create temporally varying drug profiles to mimic physiologically measured profiles. In addition, low levels of oxygen in cancerous tumors have been linked with drug resistance and decreased likelihood of successful treatment and patient survival. Our work also integrates a thin-film oxygen sensor with a microfluidic oxygen gradient generator which will in future allow us to create spatial oxygen gradients and study effects of hypoxia on cell response to drug treatment. In future, this technology promises to improve cell-based validation in the drug discovery process, decreasing the cost and increasing the speed in screening large numbers of compounds.