Thursday, July 3, 2025 7/3/2025

mRNA Expression Profiling from Extracellular Vesicles (EVs): Generating a Rapid Diagnostic for Stroke

Award Number: R01EB031579
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE Of BIOMEDICAL IMAGING & BIOENGINEERING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/01/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2026

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mRNA Expression Profiling from Extracellular Vesicles (EVs): Generating a Rapid Diagnostic for Stroke - Project Summary/Abstract Stroke is a disorder of the brain by which a part loses its blood supply and the affected region rapidly progresses to death if blood flow is not restored in time. Treatments to restore blood flow after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are effective if administered <4.5 h from the onset of the stroke event. But, due in part to the lack of an in vitro diagnostic test for AIS, imaging (CT – clinical sensitivity ~26%) at the attending hospital is required for diagnosis. As a result, <7% of AIS patients receive treatment. Therefore, a critical need exists to develop strategies for diagnosing stroke in near real time that potentially can allow for point-of-care testing (POCT). One approach is a peripheral blood test using markers that quickly respond to changes in the brain induced by stroke. The proposed project will develop innovative technologies that uses peripheral blood markers for diagnosing stroke syndromes (AIS and hemorrhagic stroke) in near real time (~31 min for sample-to-answer) with an LOD of ~0.03 ng (total RNA). The research team has found that alterations in mRNA expression secured from white blood cell subsets can be used for stroke diagnosis and appear rapidly in peripheral blood following a stroke event. Resulting from a prior R01, CD15+ and CD8+ leukocytes were discovered as a predominant source of stroke- related mRNA biomarkers. This project seeks to realize the development of an innovative fluidic cartridge and the associated assay for the measurement of stroke-related RNA markers sourced from CD15 and CD8 expressing extracellular vesicles (EVs). The utility of EVs as a source of stroke-related RNA biomarkers is based on their rapid appearance and high abundance in plasma, potentially providing even faster stroke diagnosis compared to the cells from which they originate. This project will discover EV-RNA markers with high clinical sensitivity and specificity (>80%) for diagnosing ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in <3 h from stroke onset. The cartridge, which consists of task-specific modules made from plastics via replication (i.e., injection molding) connected to a fluidic motherboard, will use the EV-RNA markers emanating from this project. Plasma will serve as the input from which surface-affinity selection of CD8 and CD15 EVs will occur using a specifically designed module. Following EV release from the capture surface via a photocleavable linker (cleaved using a blue-light LED), the cartridge will quantify the number of EVs selected using a label-free readout strategy. The fluidic cartridge also consists of a mixed-scale (nm → µm) module to read electrically copy numbers of stroke EV-RNA markers in a highly multiplexed fashion (>24 targets). This module will consist of in-plane nanopores made in a plastic via nano-injection molding and can identify RNAs using a distinct oligonucleotide primer pair querying a specific RNA using a solid-phase ligase detection reaction (spLDR). Single-molecule readout will allow for high analytical sensitivity to observe subtle changes in EV-RNA marker copy numbers. The utility of this cartridge will be evaluated in a clinical setting. Success of the project is leveraged by a strong multidisciplinary team, whom have a productive record of collaboration in developing stroke markers and diagnostic platforms for stroke.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $515,986 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH INC	2385 IRVING HILL RD	LAWRENCE	KS	66045	DOUGLAS	USA	Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health	001	4	6/24/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$51,596
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH INC	2385 IRVING HILL RD	LAWRENCE	KS	66045	DOUGLAS	USA	Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health	000	4	3/24/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$464,390
														Subtotal = $515,986

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $552,097 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH INC	2385 IRVING HILL RD	LAWRENCE	KS	66045	DOUGLAS	USA	Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health	001	3	8/30/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH INC	2385 IRVING HILL RD	LAWRENCE	KS	66045	DOUGLAS	USA	Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health	000	3	5/3/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$552,097
														Subtotal = $552,097

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $585,750 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH, INC.	2385 IRVING HILL RD	LAWRENCE	KS	66045	DOUGLAS	USA	Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health	001	2	4/3/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$585,750
2023	2022	UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH, INC.	2385 IRVING HILL RD	LAWRENCE	KS	66045	DOUGLAS	USA	Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health	000	1	11/18/2022	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $585,750

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $615,409 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH, INC.	2385 IRVING HILL RD	LAWRENCE	KS	66045	DOUGLAS	USA	Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health	000	1	6/16/2022	NEW	$615,409
														Subtotal = $615,409

Grand Total All Awards = $2,269,242

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mRNA Expression Profiling from Extracellular Vesicles (EVs): Generating a Rapid Diagnostic for Stroke

Award Number: R01EB031579

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE Of BIOMEDICAL IMAGING & BIOENGINEERING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/01/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2026

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