SBIR Phase I: Dip-stick Tests for Detection of Heavy Metals in Water

SBIR 第一阶段：检测水中重金属的浸棒测试

• 批准号: 1113908
• 负责人: Debapriya Mazumdar
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Andalyze
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-07-01 至 2011-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1113908&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Dip; stick; Tests

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project focuses on commercializing dip-stick tests for detection of heavy metals (lead, uranium, copper, mercury) in water, where the appearance of a red line on the test strip will indicate the presence of a contaminant. Heavy metal contamination in water poses a serious health concern and their easy detection is essential for fast and effective removal. Currently established detection methods use sophisticated, expensive instrumentation and skilled operators. There exists the need for spot test kits for low cost, real time and on-site detection for wide range of contaminants. ANDalyze proposes to make highly sensitive and specific dip-stick tests using recent advances in biotechnology and nanotechnology. A special class of metal-specific DNA sequences, called DNAzymes will be functionalized with gold nanoparticles and dried on lateral flow devices (test strips) to make dip-stick sensors for heavy metals, similar in format to the home pregnancy test kits. The broader impact of this research is that these dip-stick tests are an ideal solution for easy, on-site water quality testing in homes, schools, hospitals and industries, instead of sending water samples to analytical labs where it can often take more than 2 weeks to get back results. This provides a significant advantage to a user who can start any remediation process sooner upon detection of contaminants, thereby reducing their adverse impacts. These tests are particularly valuable in developing countries where access to instrumentation or money for sophisticated analytical tests may be limited.

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的重点是将用于检测水中重金属（铅、铀、铜、汞）的试纸测试商业化，试纸上出现红线将表明存在污染物。水中的重金属污染会造成严重的健康问题，其易于检测对于快速有效地去除至关重要。目前建立的检测方法使用复杂、昂贵的仪器和熟练的操作人员。存在对用于低成本、真实的时间和现场检测广泛污染物的点测试试剂盒的需要。ANDalyze建议使用生物技术和纳米技术的最新进展进行高度敏感和特异性的试纸测试。一种特殊的金属特异性DNA序列，称为DNAzymes，将用金纳米颗粒功能化，并在侧流装置（试纸）上干燥，以制造重金属的试纸传感器，其形式类似于家用妊娠测试试剂盒。这项研究的更广泛的影响是，这些试纸测试是家庭，学校，医院和工业中简单的现场水质测试的理想解决方案，而不是将水样送到分析实验室，通常需要超过2周才能得到结果。这为用户提供了显著的优点，用户可以在检测到污染物时更快地开始任何修复过程，从而减少其不利影响。这些测试在发展中国家特别有价值，因为这些国家获得用于复杂分析测试的仪器或资金可能有限。