02594nas a2200217   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042100001700055700002400072700001200096700002000108700002000128700002400148700001600172245012900188856005800317300001400375490000700389520196600396022001402362       2022                            d  c2022-6-61 aSandro Satta1 aFahimeh Shahabipour1 aWei Gao1 aSteven R. Lentz1 aStanley Perlman1 aNureddin Ashammakhi1 aTzung Hsiai00aEngineering viral genomics and nano-liposomes in microfluidic platforms for patient-specific analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants  uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9254234/  a4779-47900 v123 aNew variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are continuing to spread globally, contributing to the persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasing resources have been focused on developing vaccines and therapeutics that target the Spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. Recent advances in microfluidics have the potential to recapitulate viral infection in the organ-specific platforms, known as organ-on-a-chip (OoC), in which binding of SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) of the host cells occurs. As the COVID-19 pandemic lingers, there remains an unmet need to screen emerging mutations, to predict viral transmissibility and pathogenicity, and to assess the strength of neutralizing antibodies following vaccination or reinfection. Conventional detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants relies on two-dimensional (2-D) cell culture methods, whereas simulating the micro-environment requires three-dimensional (3-D) systems. To this end, analyzing SARS-CoV-2-mediated pathogenicity via microfluidic platforms minimizes the experimental cost, duration, and optimization needed for animal studies, and obviates the ethical concerns associated with the use of primates. In this context, this review highlights the state-of-the-art strategy to engineer the nano-liposomes that can be conjugated with SARS-CoV-2 Spike mutations or genomic sequences in the microfluidic platforms; thereby, allowing for screening the rising SARS-CoV-2 variants and predicting COVID-19-associated coagulation. Furthermore, introducing viral genomics to the patient-specific blood accelerates the discovery of therapeutic targets in the face of evolving viral variants, including B1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), B.1.617.2 (Delta), c.37 (Lambda), and B.1.1.529 (Omicron). Thus, engineering nano-liposomes to encapsulate SARS-CoV-2 viral genomic sequences enables rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the long COVID-19 era.  a1838-7640