SBIR Phase I: Fluorescence-Amplified Nana-Assembly for Sensing Bio-Toxins

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop a novel functional nanostructure for detection/identification of biological warfare agents (BWA). A new class of fluorescence-amplified nano-assembly (FLAN) is proposed for real-time, selective, and ultra-sensitive BWAs and toxins assays. The basic concept of this technology is to mimic the cell membrane under certain organisms and toxins initially attack. Living cells quickly recognize and selectively respond towards invasion. The FLAN using three key elements for target detection: 1) molecular recognition, 2) fluorescence transduction, and 3) fluorescence amplification, to provide simple and direct fluorescent assay. The molecular receptors recognize the BWA; the binding causes a change in the local ternary structure, and which leads to an amplified fluorescent structure that can be quantified optically. The synthetic nanostructures exhibit bioactivities and high stability. The BWA-FLAN receptor binding is a rapid one-step reaction; it does not require complicate separation and washing steps, labeled fluorophore, or visualization reagents. During the Phase I project, the investigator will design and synthesize functional nanostructures with BWA-specific receptors, develop FLAN molecular assembly, develop fluorescence sensing system, characterize, test, and evaluate its technical merits. Highly selective and sensitive molecular recognition is important throughout biology, biotechnology, and clinical diagnostics. COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS Homeland and civilian defense applications include medical diagnostic of pathogens and diseases as well as non-medical contamination avoidance sensors for biological terrorism agents. The proposed nanostructure-based assays could be easily adapted to targets of interest to the medical community, environmental and agricultural testing, and food industry and used in conjunction with the portable reader for diagnostics in clinical or hospital setting.