Microtechnology could aid in the study of tau protein’s role in Alzheimer’s

Tau protein plays a role in the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease—that much scientists are sure about.
But, due to a lack of tools for manipulating and studying the protein, its exact role is not known.
CEA-Leti in Grenoble and ICM* in Paris recently won an Alztec Innovation Program grant to solve this problem.
The researchers in Grenoble will develop a microfluidic circuit to isolate individual cells that contain the tau protein by encapsulating them in micro-droplets of an aqueous solution.
The flow, speed, and pressure inside the circuit will be tightly controlled.
They will also develop a system to distribute the encapsulated cells in 96-well cell culture plates so that dual RNA amplification and screening for the tau protein involved in Alzheimer’s can be performed.

Contact: camille.giroud@cea.fr

*ICM is a center for brain and spinal cord research

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