Single-biomolecule detector array based on nanomagnetically stabilized magnetoresistive sensors

利特维诺夫这个由生物传感/CBET项目授予的NSF奖项支持由教授领导的研究。休斯顿大学的Dmitri Litvinov和Richard Willson以及卫理公会医院研究所的张忠哲教授致力于展示一种新的生物传感器平台，该平台能够在单分子水平上对DNA、RNA、蛋白质、抗体或病原体等生物分子制剂具有前所未有的高灵敏度，从而为诊断和生物研究打开新的机会。这项技术利用了纳米磁性传感器技术的巨大进步，为我们带来了用于数据存储的高容量磁性硬盘驱动器。这项研究的智力价值在于证明了仅根据一个或几个生物分子物种来检测生物测量并将其建立在基础上的能力，从而通过复杂的多个相互作用提高数据质量和可靠性。这种变革性的结果是通过使用专门的纳米磁性稳定的环传感器几何结构来实现卓越的功能(单分子灵敏度、大规模可阵列性、连续数据、低成本)。磁性报告标记可以作为全集成分析的基础，从磁性亲和力捕获和洗涤稀薄或复杂样品基质中的分析物靶标，到具有无与伦比的灵敏度的检测，再到磁拉力的严格性以减少假阳性和最大限度的特异性。这项研究将显著推进一种新的普遍适用的生物传感器技术，能够在宏基因组学、基因组学、蛋白质组学、分子诊断学和细胞生物学中产生革命性的影响。传感器平台的极其灵敏和特定的检测能力可能会在整个生物研究和生化技术中得到非常广泛的应用。潜在的应用包括医疗诊断、食品安全应用中的病原体检测、防假阳性生物检测、快速药物筛选等。这项研究还将产生重大的社会影响，因为休斯顿大学为授予博士学位的机构中种族最多元化的学生群体提供服务。正是从这个多样化的学生群体中，我们吸引了我们的大部分研究生。此外，该计划将与休斯顿大学现有的REU、RET、GR和GK-12计划密切互动，以加强对代表性不足群体的招聘。该项目还将为本科生的顶石设计项目提供研究项目。此外，在这个项目过程中获得的知识将通过休斯顿大学卡伦工程学院的纳米工程辅修课程进行传播。

0932971LitvinovThis NSF award by the Biosensing/CBET program supports the research led by Profs. Dmitri Litvinov and Richard Willson at the University of Houston and by Prof. Chung-Che Chang at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute aimed at demonstrating a novel biosensor platform capable of unprecedentedly high sensitivity, potentially at a single-molecule level, to biomolecular agents such as DNA, RNA, proteins, antibodies, or pathogens, opening new opportunities in diagnosis and in biological research. The technology leverages dramatic advancements in nanomagnetic sensor technology that have brought us high-capacity magnetic hard-drives for data storage. The intellectual merit of the research is to demonstrate the ability to detect and base biological measurements on only one or a few biomolecular species, thus improving data quality and reliability by the complexity of multiple interactions. This transformative outcome is enabled by the use of a specialized nanomagnetically stabilized ring-sensor geometry to enable superior functionality (single molecule sensitivity, massive arrayability, continuous data, low cost). Magnetic reporter labels can serve as the basis of fully-integrated assays spanning from magnetic affinity capture and washing of analyte targets from dilute or complex sample matrices, to detection with unparalleled sensitivity, to magnetic pull-off force stringency for false positive reduction and maximal specificity.This research will significantly advance a new kind of generally-applicable biosensor technology capable of transformative impact in metagenomics, genomics, proteomics, molecular diagnostics, and cell biology. The sensor platform's capacity for extremely sensitive and specific detection will likely find very broad applications throughout biological research and biochemical technology. Potential applications include medical diagnostics, pathogen detection in food safety application, false-positive-proof biothreat detection, rapid drug screening, and others. The research will also have a significant societal impact as the University of Houston serves the most ethnically diverse student body among doctoral-degree-granting institutions. It is from this diverse student body we draw the bulk of our graduate students. Furthermore, the program will closely interact with the existing REU, RET, GRADE, and GK-12 programs at the University of Houston to enhance the recruitment of underrepresented groups. The program will also provide research projects for the undergraduate Capstone Design program. Moreover, the knowledge gained over the course of this program will be disseminated through the Nanoengineering Minor at the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston.