İmmunomagnetik ile lösemi hücrelerini algılamak için düşük maliyetli mikroakışkan sistem geliştirilmesi

Sensor technologies are used for converting physical properties into measurable signals. With the advances in technology, especially the developments in the semiconductor fabrication caused the emergence of a new technology which is known as microfluidics. Microfluidics is a cutting-edge technology that provides cost and time efficient solutions to conventional methods. They have different areas of applications such as chemistry, biology, information technology, optics, and etc. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in childhood. If there are few cancer cells still remain in the body after the treatment, doctors cannot detect and observe any physical or other symptoms and these cells can cause relapses which is called Minimal Residual Disease (MRD). Currently, MRD can be detected with flow cytometry and gene-based techniques. Both methods have disadvantages such as being high-cost and requirement of trained personnel. With this project, we aimed to develop a low-cost microfluidic system to capture leukemia cells having specific surface markers (CD10, CD19, and CD45). We used antibody-coated magnetic beads for capturing the target cells. The final step is to immobilize leukemia cells onto gold pads in the microfluidics after the magnetic separation. Then cells were counted to understand the patient response to the treatment process.