Multiplexed device for rapid coagulopathy testing

Abstract COVID-19 has emerged as a global health challenge, with more than 37 million cases reported and 1,079,029 deaths (as of October 13, 2020 according to the WHO website). Although the precise etiology of coagulopathies in COVID-19 is not clear, damage to lung tissue, increased cytokine levels and alteration of blood chemistry due to inflammation and sepsis all likely contribute. The resulting inappropriate hemostasis (the process of making blood clots to stop bleeding) is a major challenge in the care of these patients. Importantly, the coagulation profile of a COVID-19 patient - and consequently the appropriate medical treatment - might change from hour to hour. Because asymptomatic patients can develop life-threatening coagulopathy-related thrombotic events, robust, frequent and inexpensive tests for blood coagulation aberrations would help identify at-risk patients. Current methods for clinical assessment of coagulation status are cumbersome, expensive and limited in scope, and clinicians are frustrated by the lack of robust tools to address coagulopathy in COVID-19. Leveraging our expertise in blood coagulopathy, COVID-19 management and microfluidics technology, we propose to develop and test technology for improving diagnosis of blood coagulation status in COVID-19-positive patients. The technology is simple, but multiplexed, replacing multiple blood tests currently used in the clinic. Because the blood sample is always contained within the device, risk of exposure to infected blood is minimized. It uses biomimetic principles to challenge blood to flow through vascular-like channels that are pre-treated with specific coagulation factors. We will optimize the design of the device and validate its performance against existing assay methods. When complete, this project will provide new technology for rapid, repeated point of care testing of blood coagulopathy in COVID-19 and other diverse clinical applications.