A team of scientists funded by NICHD through the Human Placenta Project (HPP) is developing a portable, noninvasive way to monitor the placenta by using sound waves to analyze small particles that are released from placental cells and circulating in the blood.
Phone-Based Diagnostic Tool
The team, led by Tony Jun Huang, Ph.D., started with a proof-of-concept, which involved creating a smartphone-based app that could measure the amount of hemoglobin in blood without a blood draw. The new technology employs acoustofluidics, a field of physics that uses sound waves to manipulate tiny particles in fluids. To address the challenge of in-field/in-office analysis, the researchers also created a test that could be performed via a cellphone camera. The researchers were able to use image analysis methods to measure the concentration of hemoglobin in blood samples.
Real-time Monitoring
The researchers are applying this technology to monitor placental health in real time. They are focusing on particles, such as small extracellular vesicles (sEVs, also referred to as exosomes), that are shed into the bloodstream by placental cells called trophoblasts. In one study led by Yoel Sadovsky, M.D., the team found differences between blood samples from preeclamptic pregnancies and those from healthy pregnancies. The researchers identified seven types of sEV microRNAs that were expressed differently between the two groups, potentially offering both a diagnostic marker and clues as to how preeclampsia develops. The team is working toward using these kinds of unique particles in their sound wave–based devices as real-time predictors of placental health.
Learn more about the team
Principal Investigator(s):
Learn more about the HPP-funded project:
Acoustofluidic Separation of Placental Nanovesicle Subpopulations in Obstetrical Diseases
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