Development of Biodiagnostic Devices based on Differential Adhesion Mediated by DNA Hybridization

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The objective of this project is to develop and optimize methods for the detection of unknown DNA strands by the adhesion of micro-sized particles bearing DNA to surfaces bearing complementary strands of DNA. Such techniques would combine DNA hybridization as a high fidelity means of identifying unknown strands, with bead based adhesion, in which the large number of complementary strands leads to a higher signal-to-noise in DNA detection, as well as a sharper dependence on external variables that affect binding, such as temperature, molecular density and flow rate. Furthermore, the use of micro-sized particles would lead to simple optical detection of binding, which would facilitate and broaden the methods for detection. The methods developed here will be useful for the detection of foreign DNA from pathogenic bacteria, and thus be useful for pathogen detection and the national defense against bioterrorism.