Healthcare Devices
CellFACE
Predicting bleeding risks in patients before and after surgery – saving loss of life.
About the Project
CellFACE establishes imaging flow cytometry as a label-free platform technology for routine cellular diagnostics at the point of care. To assure the success of the interdisciplinary project, back-to-back teams in Munich and Singapore are formed. Using co-creational principles, engineers and life scientists at TUMCREATE, NTU and A*STAR cooperate with clinicians at the National University Hospital and its health system (NUHS) to develop a workflow solution for blood cell analysis, improving acute care diagnostics.
Imaging flow cytometry enables high-throughput cell analysis at physiological conditions based on a highly defined microfluidic flow of blood samples and digital holographic microscopy (DHM).
Due to the label-and reagent-free imaging approach, we can visualise cell morphologies, differentiate cells based on phase information and have a most meaningful access to hidden functional biomarkers such as blood cell aggregates.
The value of these new biomarker classes will be confirmed in longitudinal clinical studies with NUHS clinicians.
Thus, CellFACE supports rapid stratification of fever patients using functional hematological biomarkers related to immune system, hemostasis, and organ function.
To reduce workflow complexity and computational effort, the team explores an integration of cartridge-based workflows with industry partners and supported by artificial intelligence algorithms. Robust analysis of hidden biomarkers will demonstrate the realisation potential of future point-of-care applications with time-to-results in a few minutes.
To ensure reproducible clinical testing, the team will develop additional standardisation and calibration methods for this next generation point-of-care hematology analyser. The results of CellFACE promise to revolutionise patient care, producing many benefits throughout Singapore’s health system. These range from improved antimicrobial stewardship to prevention of unnecessary hospital admissions during diagnostic uncertainties. CellFACE will help save costs by focusing investigations to rapidly identify the underlying causes of fever.
It its second phase, the project seeks to quantify blood cell aggregates to predict bleeding risks in patients before and after surgery. This will help clinicians potentially save loss of lives due to bleeding.
Key Objectives
TUMCREATE focuses on clinical translations and miniaturized hardware architectures for point-of-care testing.
- Develop label-free optofluidic microscopes measuring morphological and mechanical markers.
- Train deep learning algorithms that correlate mechanical properties with clinical outcomes.
- Miniaturize desktop analytics into robust diagnostic cartridges.
- Conduct rigorous clinical validation inside partner hospitals across Singapore.
Research Team
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
- Klaus Diepold — PI, Professor
- Oliver Hayden — PI, Professor
- Percy Knolle — PI, Professor
- Clarissa Prazeres da Costa — PI, Professor
- Gerhard Schneider — PI, Professor
- Youssef Hamway — Postdoc
- Hedwig Irl — Physician
- Christian Klenk — PhD
- Stefan Röhrl — PhD
TUMCREATE
- Kerem Delikoyun — Research Fellow
- Qianyu Chen — Research Associate
- Si Ko Myo — Quality Software Engineer
A*STAR
- Laurent Renia — PI, Professor
- Hwee Kuan Lee — PI, Adjunct Associate Professor
- Liu Wei — Postdoc
- Charles Wang Wei — Supplier
NTU
- Han Wei Hou — Assistant Professor
NUHS
- Chew Ka Lip — PI
- Chng, Wee Joo — PI, Professor
- Matthew Edward Cove — PI, Assistant Professor
- Kuan, Win Sen — PI, Assistant Professor
- Soong, John Tshon Yit — PI, Assistant Professor
Sunningdale Tech Ltd
- Goh, Yew Guan — Industry Collaborator
Dracoon GmbH
- Marc Schieder — Industry Collaborator
Duke-NUS
- Antonio Bertoletti — Adviser