# Pilot Project: Application of microfluidics to in situ adaptive immunity

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2020 · $120,011

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Antigen-restricted cell:cell interactions drive adaptive immunity. While critical for understanding pathogenic
mechanisms, limited techniques are available to study human immune cell interactions in tissue at sites of
disease. As demonstrated in the UofC ACE Collaborative Project, the Clark Lab has developed novel
technologies to identify and quantify cognate interactions in multicolor confocal images of human tissue. The
current version of the Clark Lab computational approach, Cell Distance Mapping version 3 (CDM3) uses deep
machine learning to identify cognate interactions between potential antigen presenting cells (APCs) and CD4+ T
cells. However, limited complementary technologies are available to functionally study cell:cell interactions
identified by CDM3. Historically, this issue has been skirted by examining cell subsets isolated from peripheral
blood. Though some valuable insights have been generated through this approach, the subsets found in
peripheral blood are not necessarily reflective of those found in inflamed tissue. To fully understand the local
cell-cell interactions that contribute to pathology within tissue, it is necessary to develop novel assays that can
be applied to small numbers of cells isolated from clinically obtainable tissue samples. In this grant application,
we propose to use novel microfluidic techniques developed in our laboratory to address this pressing need. As
demonstrated in published work and this grant application, we can isolate single cells, or cell pairs, and perform
single cell functional assays for cell motility, surface expression, signaling and cytokine production. We propose
to extend these technical approaches to studying MHC class-restricted B:T collaboration in cells isolated from
human tissue. We hypothesize that specificities observed in the interactions between different B and T cell
subsets in vivo reflect intrinsic cell differences and capacities. This hypothesis will be tested in the following
Specific Aims:
Aim 1: Develop methods for interrogating individual T cell-B cell interactions using microfluidics.
Aim 2: Examine in situ T cell-B cell interactions in rheumatoid arthritis using microfluidics-based
functional assays.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9920104
- **Project number:** 5U19AI082724-12
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Savas Tay
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $120,011
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9920104

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9920104, Pilot Project: Application of microfluidics to in situ adaptive immunity (5U19AI082724-12). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9920104. Licensed CC0.

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