Multi-user equipment approved in grant 014/00984-3: ECIS (electric cell-substrate impedance sensing)

Abstract

Red blood cell disorders: Pathophysiology and new therapeutic approaches, this Project is developed by the Research Group on Red blood cells formed by researchers of the Blood Center, Department of clinical pathology, Faculty of medical sciences and the Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering Center (CBMEG) at UNICAMP in collaboration with several Brazilian and international researchers. The project represents a major expansion of the previous research line of this group, with the inclusion of new and unpublished themes, which undoubtedly will result on extremely significant data from a scientific point of view and in the therapy of the studied diseases. This project aims to uncover important aspects of the pathophysiology of red blood cells diseases and discover new forms of treatment with the use of equipment and technology that are at the frontier of knowledge, as well as to broaden the international collaborations formed in recent years. The project includes the introduction of new methods and equipment, including a platform of intravital microscopy for investigation of Microcirculation in vivo, the ImageStream Amnis equipment for the visualization of interactions and cellular changes, studies using iPS and sequencing techniques and gene function. In addition to these, now we propose the inclusion of ECIS equipment (Electric Cell-substrate Impedance Sensing System), able to monitor in real time electrical changes in endothelial and epithelial cell monolayer, evaluating how endothelial barrier and cell migration properties. As a whole, the project proposes studies in five broad areas related to changes in the red blood cells and derived diseases; the identification of genes associated with eritropoese and molecular factors that regulate the production of HbF, the effects of hemolysis and identification of therapeutic targets, structural and functional changes of the hemoglobin molecule, aspects of the pathophysiology of the red blood cell-related diseases and new drugs and therapeutic targets in the Hemoglobinopathies. The exceptional team of Brazilian researchers and foreigners involved in the proposal, together with the use of methods and equipment described, represents a multidisciplinary approach with the use of in vitro and in vivo methods to research aspects still not clear of the red blood cells diseases. We believe that this approach will provide fundamental data for the knowledge and the development of new therapies for the treatment of these diseases. (AU)