Rapid and Simple Sample Acquisition During Space Flight: Simultaneous Extraction of Proteins and Nucleic Acids from Bodily Fluids and Cabin Water Using Free-Flow Bi-directional Isotachophoresis

Long missions in deep space present a new set of challenges for maintaining the health, safety and performance of crews. In particular, the ability to screen for disease, establish deviations from health, and detect viral or bacterial infections both in humans and in cabin air or water systems are essential requirements for assuring the health of crew members during flight missions. Many standard screening methods for analyzing, for example, protein and nucleic acids, are not ideal for space flight missions because they often require long processing times, are labor intensive and often use hazardous chemicals. The goal of this project is to is to utilize the electrokinetic method, isotachophoresis (ITP) to develop a liquid handling and sample acquisition technology that is capable of simultaneous extraction of both proteins and nucleic acids from human body fluids and cabin water. Because separation, concentration and extraction of both nucleic acids and proteins will be accomplished in a single step, the success of this project will lead to dramatic improvements in space hardware for monitoring human health. Objective 3: To demonstrate hardware capabilities with single-step sample loading and molecular extraction.

The success of the project will dramatically improve current sample acquisition capabilities with a molecular extraction and amplification method that is revolutionary in ease-of-use and flexibility. Potential Impact Because separation, concentration and extraction of both nucleic acids and proteins will be accomplished in a single step, the proposed bidirectional ITP sample purification system offers an unprecedented level of operational simplicity. The system will require only small volumes of reagents and enable significant improvement in existing space science abilities as extracted samples will be capable of being used with downstream in situ instruments. The proposed research will also dramatically improve sample purification and enrichment capabilities for existing meso- and microfluidic systems. The ITP hardware will be compatible with not only analytical instruments, but also with many existing microfluidic systems and devices. This project therefore has the potential to be crosscutting and serve as a valuable genetic and proteomic preparatory tool for fluidic applications in detection and prevention of disease in developing countries, biowarefare/anti-terrorism applications, environmental monitoring, point-of-care diagnostic testing and for basic biological research.

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