AISAT · Development of a new high throughput automated imaging system to carry out drug sensitivity measurements on primary leukemia/lymphoma cells to assist individualized assay guided therapy

The aim of the project is to build a new robust prototype of a high throughput automated imaging system that can be used in routine clinical lab environment for gathering data on drug sensitivity patterns of primary leukemia/lymphoma cells. The device will assist individualized assay guided therapy. The laboratory at the host institute has recently created a new microculture system that allows viability testing of drug treated primary tumor cells. The present system is exclusively based on commercially available components. It is also very complex and expensive. The primary data gathered on this system however appears to be so valuable that it warrants the development of a new, simpler, but highly parallelized device with a six fold increase in the work capacity for one twentieth of the price. The device will promote both basic research and improve adequate patient care. There is a long going and very fruitful collaboration between the host laboratory at the Karolinska institute and the home laboratory of the applicant that among other led to the development of novel surface plasmon resonance methods to study protein-protein interactions. The knowledge and experience of the applicant together with the preliminary development that has already taken place at the accepting institute provides a solid foundation for likely success. The applicant will also participate in a formal doctoral training in tumor biology and will contribute to the expansion of the imaging core facility of the Karolinska Institute.