Event
Bioengineering Seminar Series: Rafael Davalos
Friday, February 21, 2014
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Pepco Room (1105), Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Professor Chris Jewell
cmjewell@umd.edu
Isolation and Enrichment of Rare Cell Populations Based On Their Dielectrophoretic Signature
Rafael Davalos
Associate Professor and College of Engineering Faculty Fellow
Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences
Virginia Tech
In the presence of an electric field, biological cells become polarized. This biophysical response can be used to transport cells in a non-uniform electric field through a phenomenon known as dielectrophoresis. Utilizing this phenomenon, we have invented a technology known as contactless dielectrophoresis (cDEP) to isolate rare cells of interest. Advantages of cDEP over other cell sorting methods include elimination of extensive sample preparation and rare cell enrichment while maintaining cell viability. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a finite population of cancer cells possessing the ability to transplant a new tumor from an existing one and are responsible for the metastatic properties of tumors. Isolation of CSCs is the first step toward understanding their role in pathogenesis and cancer progression and is essential for development of improved therapies. We characterized the dielectrophoretic response for collecting and culturing CSCs and found it to be significantly different from that of non-CSCs. As opposed to approaches that rely on biomarkers and biochemical methods to isolate rare cells, this is the first CSC isolation strategy relying on the biophysics of the cell rather than its genotype. Non-invasive phenotypic methods to detect and enrich cells independent of their genotype are critical for early diagnostic and treatment purposes including stem cell therapy, circulating tumor cell detection, and isolating bacteria from blood. Additionally, I will discuss our use of biotransport principles to develop technologies licensed to four companies ranging from small start-ups to large corporations with applications in tissue engineering, medical device design, and focal cancer therapy.
About the Speaker
Rafael V. Davalos is an Associate Professor in the Virginia Tech – Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences and College of Engineering Faculty Fellow. He also holds Adjunct Appointments in the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department, Mechanical Engineering, the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center and at the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Davalos received his BS from Cornell University and his MS and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to his career as a faculty member, Davalos was a Principal Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. In 2012 he received the award for the Most Outstanding Dissertation Advisor at Virginia Tech. He has 12 pending or issued patents, 55 peer-reviewed articles, 40 conference proceedings, and 6 book chapters. Dr. Davalos is the recipient of the 2006 HENAAC award for the Nation's Most Promising Hispanic Engineer, the NSF CAREER, and was named a Wallace H. Coulter Fellow. His invention to treat cancer was listed in NASA Tech Briefs as one of the top 7 technological breakthroughs of '07.
