KVAL: Instant nanofluidic tau aggregation

Our Tau-on-Chip technology shortens the time needed to yield tau protein aggregates from months to just a few seconds. Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease are closely linked to the protein tau (hTau441), as it ends up as aggregates in the human brain. The availability of tau protein aggregates is essential for drug development for neurodegenerative disease. Current methods for aggregating tau protein have several limitations and the process can take months. When adding external chemical ques to accelerate the process, inauthentic tau is aggregated, a type that is unlike what is found in patients. The Tau-on-Chip technology can produce authentic tau protein aggregates for drug development in seconds, without the need of external chemical queues. The technology also enables observation of protein oligomers. Tau oligomers are considered a key target species in disease-causing tau aggregation but are traditionally difficult to isolate. Our technology may therefore provide a valuable tool for current efforts toward developing and screening new antibodies to target this intermediate and hard-to-observe protein species. The completed qualification project was essential to verify commercial interest from relevant players in the field, file a patent for the technology and prove that the technology is applicable for proteins beyond tau.

Outcome: The technology will be valuable for professionals within research, pharmaceutical development and in clinical studies. The value is created by providing significant reduction of screening time for successful drug candidates, give low sample volume and concentrations needed with single molecule sensitivity and production of tau fibrils and oligomers made on demand in a disposable chip platform. Impact: The technology displays a new and efficient way to aggregate tau as well as other proteins prone to aggregation. Tau oligomers and fibrils are closely related to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The number of people living with AD is projected to double from 2020 to 2030 and may reach more than 75 million worldwide. The outcomes of this project have strengther our confidence in the technology as a vital contributor to expediting pharmaceutical development for AD.