Thesis
Combining microfluidics with raman spectroscopy for the study of emerging cancer therapies
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2021
- Thesis identifier
- T15942
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201492174
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Lipid synthesis is known to be upregulated in cancerous cells in order to promote their growth and survival. Recently, drugs targeting the lipid synthesis pathway have become a research interest for new anti-cancer therapy applications. Label-free Raman spectroscopy has been demonstrated as an analysis technique that can measure changes in the lipid content of cancerous cells when treated with such drugs. In this thesis, a microfluidic device was developed which aims to provide a miniaturised platform on which to study the lipid content of single cancerous cells when treated with lipid synthesis targeting drugs. This is the first report of a microfluidic device being used for this application. PDMS, a common material used for microfluidics, was found to be incompatible with lipid Raman spectroscopy due to peaks within its Raman spectrum overlapping with those from cellular lipids. Fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), a type of Teflon, was selected as an alternative material as its Raman spectrum does not overlap with that of the lipids being measured. Many of the processes used to create the FEP microfluidic devices had to be developed and optimised, and device designs were revised due to limitations with FEP. Cancerous and non-cancerous prostate cell lines PC3 and PNT2, were seeded in the device and treated with the fatty acid synthase inhibitor Orlistat or steroyl-CoA desaturase inhibitor CAY10566. Raman spectroscopy revealed a significant increase in lipid content for PC3 cells treated with Orlistat (p < 0.0001), but not for PNT2 cells, nor for either cell line treated with CAY10566. In comparison, both PC3 and PNT2 cell lines showed a significant increase in their lipid content when treated with orlistat in glass-bottomed dishes and glass coverslips (p < 0.0001). While changes in the lipid content of PC3 cells were successfully detected in the devices, difficulties in creating and operating FEP microfluidic devices led to the conclusion that FEP is not recommended as a material for microfluidics unless absolutely necessary. A number of potential future developments to the device are discussed with the aim of improving its function and increasing its novelty. This thesis presents one of the first attempts to apply an FEP-based microfluidic chip to a specific biological application and is the only report to utilise Raman spectroscopy in combination with FEP microfluidics.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Zagnoni, Michele.
- Graham, Duncan (Professor of Chemistry)
- Resource Type
- DOI
关系
项目
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PDF of thesis T15942 | 2021-08-02 | 公开 | 下载 |