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AstroTarget™ Astro-Enrichment Kit: A Microfluidic-Free Platform for High-Throughput Rare-Astrocyte Isolation and Multi-Omic Profiling from Frozen Alzheimer’s Brain

Award Number: R44AG102286
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/08/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2027

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AstroTarget™ Astro-Enrichment Kit: A Microfluidic-Free Platform for High-Throughput Rare-Astrocyte Isolation and Multi-Omic Profiling from Frozen Alzheimer’s Brain - ABSTRACT Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research is impeded by the difficulty in isolating and profiling the <2% of nuclei belonging to plaque-associated reactive astrocytes-cells that significantly amplify amyloid and tau pathology but remain nearly invisible in frozen tissue archives due to the absence of suitable surface markers for antibody-based sorting. Consequently, unbiased single-nucleus sequencing must oversample by two orders of magnitude, driving the cost of capturing a few thousand relevant astrocytes above $25,000 per specimen, with most sequencing reads wasted on biologically irrelevant nuclei. This Fast-Track SBIR addresses this critical bottleneck by developing and commercializing the AstroTarget™ Astro-Enrichment Kit, a microfluidic-free workflow integrating: (i) particle-templated droplet generation via simple vortex mixing, (ii) bead-anchored droplet-digital PCR that specifically labels nuclei expressing ACLY, EP300, SERPINA3, and C3, and (iii) high-speed fluorescence-activated sorting of 50 µm beads, enriching astrocytes >50-fold while preserving their matched RNA and ATAC profiles. Preliminary data demonstrate single-molecule sensitivity, highly uniform droplet size, and robust dual-omic data quality from cortical samples. In Phase I, we will finalize bead-anchored fluorescent labeling chemistry and validate rare-astrocyte probe panels, ensuring optimal performance on degraded frozen tissues. Phase II will transform this foundational chemistry into a complete commercial kit, integrating an automated bead-handling workstation, ambient-stable reagents, and interchangeable probe panels, and validating it across independent Alzheimer brain banks while delivering an intuitive cloud-based data pipeline for rapid multi-omic interpretation. Fluid Discovery Inc.-founded by serial entrepreneurs behind successful startups including Mission Bio and Fluent BioSciences (acquired by Illumina)-will lead commercialization, supported scientifically by academic collaborators Dr. Adam Abate (droplet biology) and Dr. Carlo Condello (astrocyte biology) at UCSF. This commercially-ready kit will unlock decades of invaluable archived brain tissue, accelerating mechanistic research, target identification, and laying the foundation for subsequent diagnostic and therapeutic development. Beyond astrocytes and Alzheimer’s disease, AstroTarget™ represents a broadly generalizable method for nucleic-acid-based cell and nucleus sorting, uniquely capable of enriching rare populations without reliance on surface markers, thus providing researchers an entirely new and robust approach for detailed sequencing and analysis of rare cells across multiple diseases and research areas.


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: 2026 ( Subtotal = $506,495 )
2026	2026	VIVID BIOINNOVATIONS, PBC	953 INDIANA ST	SAN FRANCISCO	CA	94107	SAN FRANCISCO	USA	Aging Research	000	1	9/8/2026	NEW	$506,495
														Subtotal = $506,495

Grand Total All Awards = $506,495

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AstroTarget™ Astro-Enrichment Kit: A Microfluidic-Free Platform for High-Throughput Rare-Astrocyte Isolation and Multi-Omic Profiling from Frozen Alzheimer’s Brain

Award Number: R44AG102286

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

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

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/08/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2027

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