AIR: PTTP: Si nanoelectronic FemtoSensor as ultrasensitive, label-free, protein based molecular diagnostic platform

这项提议旨在通过强大的学术界和产业界合作伙伴关系，将德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校(UTD)开发的独特的硅纳米电子生物传感器技术转化为商业产品。拟议的工作将开发基于纳米级绝缘体上硅(SOI)场效应管(FET)的名为FemtoSensor(Femtomole Sensity)应用开发套件(ADK)的原型仪器，并建立基于蛋白质的概念验证测试，以建立一个便携式、低成本的诊断平台，能够对各种疾病进行无标签、快速和早期诊断。与以往的生物场效应管相比，多硅纳米沟道结构的新颖设计带来了关键的优势，例如，同时实现了高灵敏度(毫微摩尔)、选择性和稳定性，血清和肿瘤细胞裂解液样品的重复测试证明了这一点，而无需进行预纯化。多纳米通道生物场效应管的充分开发将为生物传感器领域提供新的知识。传感器的参数评估将解决在施加强电场的情况下生物传感机制的主要未知问题，这对使用电动力学的许多类型的传感器具有很大的变革作用。拟议的研究将建立性能曲线的数值模型，以可能预测传感结果，估计相关误差，并消除传感器校准的需要。如果成功，FemtoSensor Ask仪器的优劣系数远高于ELISA(市场规模/年2.4亿美元)，将使大学、研究机构、制药公司、医院/诊所、诊断公司、政府/国防机构的许多研究人员能够开发许多新的疾病检测方法。拟议的活动将促进对生物FET的发现和了解，同时也促进学术和工业学习和培训经验。将MBA学生纳入创业将补充理工科学生团队成员，并为学习和实践创新提供更丰富的机会。PI的NSF职业奖现有的外展计划将被用于这个项目。

This proposal aims to translate a unique Si nanoelectronic biosensor technology well developed at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) towards commercial products through a strong academia-industry partnership. The proposed work will develop a prototype instrument called FemtoSensor (femtoMolar sensitivity) Application Development Kit (ADK) based on a nanoscale Si on insulator (SOI) field effect transistor (FET) and to establish proof-of-concept protein-based tests towards a portable and low-cost diagnostic platform capable of label-free, rapid and early diagnostics of various diseases. The novel design of multiple Si nanochannel architecture brings critical advantages over previous bio-FETs, e.g. simultaneously achieving high sensitivity (femtoMolar), selectivity, and stability, as demonstrated by repeated tests in serum and tumor-cell lysate sample without pre-purification. The full exploitation of the multi-nanochannel bio-FETs will contribute novel knowledge to the field of biosensor. The parametric evaluation of the sensor will address major unknowns of biosensing mechanism where strong electric field is applied, which is highly transformative to many types of sensors using electrokinetics. The proposed study will establish a numerical model of the performance curves to possibly predict sensing results, estimate correlation errors, and eliminate the need for sensor calibrations. If successful, the FemtoSensor ASK instruments with much better figure of merits than ELISA ($240M market size/year) would enable many researchers in university, research institutes, pharma, hospitals/clinics, diagnostics companies, government/defense facilities, to develop many new assays for diseases. The proposed activity will advance discovery and understanding of bio-FETs, while also promoting academic and industrial learning and training experiences. Inclusion of MBA students for entrepreneurship will complement the science and engineering student team members and give a more rich opportunity for learning and practicing innovation. Existing outreach programs from the PI's NSF CAREER award will be leveraged for this project.