Collaborative Research: EMT/MISC: Making Molecular Computation Practical for Biodetection Applications

研究人员正在开发基于核酸的计算元件和系统，用于生物检测应用。这些元件是基于寡核苷酸（DNA的短单链）和脱氧核酶（酶促作用于其他寡核苷酸的寡核苷酸）。这些元件被组织成信息处理系统，如门、级联、放大器和更大的专用电路。正在开发的元件和系统的生物检测应用包括基因表达谱分析（在基础分子生物学研究中）、人类基因筛查（在公共卫生中）、病原体检测（在现场遏制传染病）和民防（在快速检测生物恐怖主义中）。研究人员正在开发的直接显示设备提供了一种无需专业培训即可轻松解读的读数，并允许立即做出实际决策;例如，在现场，卫生保健提供者可以选择个体患者治疗，公共卫生专业人员可以选择遏制传染病爆发的选项。研究人员正在解决四个实际问题。为了减少实验室实施程序的费用，他们正在研究寡核苷酸相互作用模型，并为模块化电路构建设计库。为了使信息处理组件与相关的生物检测应用程序接口，他们正在构建强大的选择性生物传感器模块。为了使生物检测结果的视觉显示易于使用，他们正在试验不同的显示设计，基于颜色和图案的编码方案，包括数字。最后，为了使设备的部署切实可行，他们正在建立明确且易于遵循的程序，以便与特定的生物应用相结合。作为原型，研究人员正在开发一种针对蚊媒黄病毒的生物检测器。该原型允许使用可随时在现场部署的设备识别至少11种不同的黄病毒属，其中包括黄热病毒和西尼罗河病毒。

Researchers are developing computational elements and systems based on nucleic acids for use in biodetection applications. The elements are based on oligonucleotides (short single-strands of DNA) and deoxyribozymes (oligonucleotides that enzymatically act on other oligonucleotides). These elements are organized into information-processing systems as gates, cascades, amplifiers, and larger application-specific circuits. Biodetection applications of the elements and systems being developed include gene expression profiling (in basic molecular biology research), human genetic screening (in public health), pathogen detection (in containment of infectious diseases in the field), and civil defense (in rapid detection of bioterrorism). The direct display devices the researchers are developing provide a read-out that is easy to interpret without specialist training and allows immediate practical decisions to be made; for instance, in the field, health care providers can select individual patient treatment, and public health professionals can select options for containment of infectious disease outbreaks. Researchers are solving four practical problems. To reduce the expense of laboratory implementation procedures, they are studying oligonucleotide interaction models and devising libraries for modular circuit construction. To make the information-processing components interface to the relevant biodetection applications, they are building robust and selective biosensor modules. To make the visual display of biodetection results easy to use, they are experimenting with different display designs, with encoding schemes based on colors and patterns, including alphanumerics. Finally, to make the deployment of devices practical, they are establishing clear and easy to follow procedures for integrating with specific biological applications. As a prototype, researchers are developing a biodetector for the class of mosquito-borne flaviviruses. The prototype allows identification of at least 11 different flavivirus species, among them the Yellow Fever virus and the West Nile virus, using equipment that is readily deployable in the field.