I-Corps: Point of care biosensor for quantification of biomarkers in bodily fluids

当生物传感器暴露于复杂介质（即血液、血浆或尿液）中，其中含有除感兴趣的分析物以外的其他成分时，就会出现生物污垢问题。生物污染的影响可能包括假阳性和降低检测限。这个项目的重点是持续开发一种廉价、便携、易于使用的生物传感器。该传感器是可定制的，可以在医生办公室、病人床边或病人家中感应各种抗原。目前的设计包括一个表面声波（SAW芯片），它可以同时感知抗原并去除生物污垢，以检测癌症标志物。通过这个项目，团队将优化传感器设计，开发商业上可行的产品，确定客户群，并验证商业假设。这项技术的更广泛影响是，它能够影响无法获得各种危及生命疾病的高质量筛查/检测的大量人口的健康。这在发展中国家更为明显，那里对传染病检测和检测设备的需求至关重要。由于将诊断测试从大型临床实验室转移到分散的环境（如医生办公室和无预约诊所）的推动，生物传感器市场正在增长。实施有效的即时检测（POC）不仅会影响个人的生命，还可以减少医院的时间和成本，从而形成一个更高效的医疗保健系统。

Biofouling is a significant problem which occurs when a biosensor is exposed to a complex medium (i.e. blood, plasma, or urine) that contains moieties other than the analyte of interest. Effects of biofouling can include false positives and decreased limits of detection. This project focuses on the continued development of an inexpensive, portable, and easy to use biosensor. The sensor is customizable and enables sensing of a variety of antigens in a physician's office, at a patient's bedside, or in a patient's home. The current design includes a single surface acoustic wave (SAW chip) that simultaneously senses an antigen and removes biofouling for the detection of cancer markers. Through this project, the team will optimize the sensor design, develop a commercially feasible product, identify a customer base, and validate business hypotheses. The broader impact of this technology is its ability to impact the health of large populations of people who do not have access to quality screening/tests for various life-threatening diseases. This is more evident in developing countries, where a need for tests and test devices for infectious diseases is vital. The market for biosensors is growing because of the push to move diagnostic testing out of large clinical laboratories into decentralized settings such as physicians' offices and walk-in clinics. Implementation of effective point-of-care (POC) tests will not only impact the lives of individuals, but can reduce time in and costs to hospitals, which will result in a more efficient healthcare system.