# Clinical Microfluidic Assessment of Red Blood Cell Adhesion, Deformability, Cellular Hemoglobin Distribution, Cellular Density, and Blood Rheology for Curative Therapies in Sickle Cell Disease

> **NIH NIH OT2** · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $29,717

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
In this proposal we build on our relevant published work1-14, and ongoing research activities supported by
an active NHLBI R01 (R01HL133574, PI: Gurkan, Little), titled: “Standardized Monitoring of Cellular
Adhesion to Improve Clinical Care in Sickle Cell Disease”, an active FDA R01 (R01FD005341, PI:
Manwani), titled: “Phase 2 Trial of Gamunex (Intravenous Gammaglobulin) for Sickle Cell Acute Pain”,
and an active NSF Award (1552782, PI Gurkan): “CAREER: Biomechanics of Red Blood Cell Adhesion
and Deformability”.
We have developed red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) biomarker assays for more robust
phenotypic analyses in sickle cell disease (SCD)1-14, supported by an NHLBI R01 (R01HL133574) and an
FDA R01 (R01FD005341) award, as described above. In this project we build on our expertise in novel
SCD biomarker assay development to uniquely address the following high priority areas identified in OTA-
19-007 for Cure Sickle Cell Initiative:
(1) Develop and validate assays to quantitatively determine cellular distribution and semi-quantitative
cellular expression of fetal, adult and/or sickle hemoglobin.
(2) Develop and validate assays to assess red blood cell rheology, including microfluidics and imaging
flow cytometry sickling assays.
In this project we propose advanced analytical and clinical validation of integrated clinical microfluidic
assays to assess RBC adhesion, deformability, cellular hemoglobin distribution, cellular density (as
mass to volume ratio for each individual cell), and whole blood rheology as candidate biomarkers to
assess response to curative therapies in SCD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10329080
- **Project number:** 3OT2HL152643-01S2
- **Recipient organization:** CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Umut A. Gurkan
- **Activity code:** OT2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $29,717
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-09-20 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10329080

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10329080, Clinical Microfluidic Assessment of Red Blood Cell Adhesion, Deformability, Cellular Hemoglobin Distribution, Cellular Density, and Blood Rheology for Curative Therapies in Sickle Cell Disease (3OT2HL152643-01S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10329080. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*