The researchers pictured above will be working on projects supported by the CRAFT Project Awards. Clockwise, starting from top-left hand corner: Claudia dos Santos (U of T), Keith Morton (NRC), Amy Wong (U of T), Daniel Brassard (NRC), Edmond Young (U of T) and Lidija Malic (NRC).

Alexandros Sklavounos (pictured above) is a CRAFT Fellow and PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. 

CRAFT Publication: New digital microfluidics system for performing rapid, point-of-care blood assays in trauma centers.

A  new publication from the Wheeler lab introduces a new blood-typing, donor testing and hematocrit-measurement system relying on digital microfluidics. The new system can run each assay within six minutes in a portable, fully automated instrument that features in-line analysis via an inexpensive camera combined with a unique image processing algorithm that is insensitive to environmental conditions, in a format suitable for the trauma center and other point-of-care settings. This work was led by PhD candidate Alexandros Sklavounos and lab alumnus Julian Lammana.

Publication: Sklavounos AA, Lamanna J, Modi D, Gupta S, Mariakakis A, Callum J, Wheeler AR. Digital Microfluidic Hemagglutination Assays for Blood Typing, Donor Compatibility Testing, and Hematocrit Analysis. Clin Chem. 2021 Sep 28: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34580703/

Relevant Patent Application: PCT/CA2020/050592 A.A. Sklavounos, J. Lamanna, and A.R. Wheeler