Novel Fluid Preservation System

To address NASA's need for a method to preserve blood and urine samples from astronauts collected during flight, Chromologic (CL) proposes to develop a novel Fluid Preservation System (FPS). FPS is based on collecting and sealing fluids in a sterile, hermetically sealed volume, with automatic separation of supernatant fluid where necessary. The unique microfluidic and medical expertise of CL scientists will result in an innovative and lightweight fluid storage system that utilizes compact and rugged sterile microfluidic chips. FPS chips will be able to collect and effectively store blood and urine for time spans of years if necessary. In Phase I CL will demonstrate the feasibility of the FPS technology by building prototype chips and demonstrating the proof of concept of pumping, separation, storage and preservation. In Phase II CL will develop a fully functional system including compact processing devices and miniaturization of the chips

Significant non-NASA commercial applications of the FPS are expected. Its ability to preserve any organic fluid at room temperature would enable forensic criminal investigators, relief personnel working in remote locations of epidemic/pandemic diseases, military personnel and environmental researches to safely collect and preserve samples in their native form without the need for bulky and power hungry freezers or potentially sample damaging chemical kits.

As part of its ongoing effort to understand the impact of space flight on humans, especially in preparation for future manned missions to Mars, NASA needs to collect and store body fluid samples of its astronauts during missions in order to quantify, among other things, the impact of radiation and microgravity on humans. Commercially available methods include either freezing the collected body fluids or using chemical preservation kits. While launching freezers results in significant payload costs, they alos restrict the amount of samples that can be stored. Chemical kits are known to produce contaminants that could foul the biomarkers that NASA is interested in. The proposed FPS can preserve body fluids without the need for any refrigeration or chemical kits enabling a lower cost and more accurate solution to sample preservation.

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