Grant: Discovery Horizons

The collection of blood samples has not changed in many decades, even though modern laboratory instrumentation often requires only several droplets of blood. In addition, some compounds of clinical interest are very unstable and degrade immediately during blood collection, so they cannot be measured accurately using existing approaches. To address these pivotal issues in blood sampling, we will develop two new micro-extraction based devices. The first push-button microneedle device will enable at-home self-microsampling of blood from forearm while obtaining high-quality sample to be sent for laboratory analysis. Second device will be used to modify current in-laboratory venipuncture blood collection procedure to preserve key unstable analytes that cannot be accurately measured using the existing technology. We will apply these new devices in combination with liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry and kinetic calibration to accurately measure oxylipins and hormone peptides in microsamples, two signalling classes of biomolecules involved in many critical processes in health and disease including pain, blood coagulation, oxidative stress, inflammation and cardiovascular health. We will systematically evaluate both the analytical and clinical performance of the devices, and examine how fasting status, sex, age, hyperlipidemia and hemolysis impact their performance and analyte stability on-device. We will perform extensive in vivo evaluation of the devices, in models specifically selected to up- or down-regulate the pathways of interest to ensure we can capture full and accurate snapshot of these pathways. Finally, in collaboration with large international lipidomics consortium we will test the performance of the devices in multi-site study (2 sites in Canada and 1 in Europe). This work will produce first-ever microextraction devices for sampling of large peptides and first microextraction-based biobanking and self-sampling devices. Biobanking technology will enable the use of future cohorts to properly study and validate these putative biomarkers in clinical and population-based cohorts. Self-sampling technology will reduce the invasiveness of sample collections, permitting more frequent and longitudinal monitoring of health status as well as decreasing logistical issues such as cold-chain shipping, all of which can contribute towards more equitable health access for all. It will also have major impact on personalized monitoring of inflammatory status.