Collaborative Research: A Contact Lens-Based Glucose Nanosensor Using Affinity Polymer-Functionalized Graphene

1.提案标题：合作研究：使用亲和聚合物功能化石墨烯的隐形眼镜葡萄糖纳米传感器2。项目目标：该项目的目标是创造一种机械灵活的，基于接触镜的亲和纳米传感器，以连续监测眼泪中的葡萄糖浓度。翻译后摘要：3a。非技术摘要：美国约有2580万人患有糖尿病，这是第七大死亡原因。连续葡萄糖监测（CGM）涉及生理葡萄糖浓度的重复测量，以允许密切监测和及时校正糖尿病患者的有问题的血糖模式。CGM可以显著降低糖尿病相关并发症的风险，但现有的CGM设备由于稳定性有限、准确性不足、反应缓慢和侵入性而尚不充分。该项目旨在创建一种机械灵活的，基于接触透镜的纳米传感器，以克服这些限制。该纳米传感器将利用纳米材料石墨烯，通过合成聚合物与葡萄糖的物理相互作用来测量泪液中的葡萄糖浓度，从而以无创，无阻塞和方便的方式实现稳定和准确的CGM。有了这些能力，纳米传感器将有可能改善对糖尿病和其他相关疾病患者的护理，并可以扩展到监测或检测医疗保健中的其他泪液携带的分析物。纳米传感器还可以广泛地影响其他应用。例如，在军事应用中，该设备可以用于健康监测以及药物和营养补充剂的输送，从而改善对士兵的保护并提高他们在战场上的表现。此外，主要研究人员将在跨学科研究环境中扩大他们目前的教育努力，培训研究生和教育本科生，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生。研究小组还将积极参与纽约市和南卡罗来纳州哥伦比亚地区的强有力的教育推广活动。技术摘要：亲和纳米传感器将使用聚合物功能化的石墨烯，以实现对眼睛眼泪中葡萄糖的连续监测。该设备将通过跨学科的方法构建，作为拟议研究的主要智力价值，结合了石墨烯纳米技术，合成聚合物化学和灵活的微机电系统。石墨烯，一个单一的，紧密堆积的碳原子层结合在一起的六边形蜂窝晶格，正在成为一个非常有前途的功能纳米材料在化学和生物传感器。目前，这种传感器通常在固相或气相环境中工作，它们在液体介质中的使用相对有限。特别地，石墨烯尚未被探索以使得能够在生理流体中进行亲和葡萄糖感测。这项研究利用石墨烯的高表面电荷灵敏度，机械柔性和光学透明度来测量眼泪中的葡萄糖。石墨烯将用合成的硼酸衍生聚合物官能化，并结合在机械柔性的隐形眼镜形基底上。通过差分测量由于硼酸部分和葡萄糖分子之间的特异性亲和力结合而引起的石墨烯电导的变化，该装置将允许特异性、灵敏性和快速测量葡萄糖浓度。在该设计中，器械将具有最佳小型化以实现快速时间响应、高灵敏度以实现改善的葡萄糖测量准确度，以及机械灵活性以减少不良组织-器械相互作用。随着未来无线遥测技术的集成，纳米传感器可以以无创、无阻塞和方便的方式实现稳定和准确的连续葡萄糖监测。

1. Proposal Title: Collaborative Research: A Contact Lens-Based Glucose Nanosensor Using Affinity Polymer-Functionalized Graphene2. Project Goals: The project goals are to create a mechanically flexible, contact lens-based, affinity nanosensor to continuously monitor glucose concentrations in tears3. Abstract: 3a. Nontechnical Abstract: Approximately 25.8 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, which is the seventh leading cause of death. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) involves repetitive measurements of physiological glucose concentration to allow close monitoring and timely correction of problematic blood sugar patterns of diabetes patients. CGM can significantly reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications, but existing CGM devices are not yet adequate because of limited stability, insufficient accuracy, slow responses, and invasiveness. This project aims to create a mechanically flexible, contact lens-based nanosensor to overcome these limitations. The nanosensor will exploit the nanomaterial graphene and measure glucose concentrations in tears via physical interactions of a synthetic polymer with glucose, thereby enabling stable and accurate CGM in a noninvasive, nonobstructive and convenient manner. With these capabilities, the nanosensor will potentially lead to improved care of patients with diabetes and other related disorders, and can be extended to the monitoring or detection of additional tear-borne analytes in healthcare. The nanosensor can also broadly impact other applications. For instance, in military applications, the device can potentially be used to enable health monitoring as well as drug and nutritional supplement delivery, thereby improving the protection of soldiers and enhancing their performance in the battlefield. In addition, the principal investigators will extend their current educational efforts in training graduate students and educating undergraduate students, including those from underrepresented groups, in an interdisciplinary research environment. The research team will also actively participate in strong educational outreach activities in the New York City and Columbia, SC, areas.3b. Technical Abstract: The affinity nanosensor will use polymer-functionalized graphene to enable continuous monitoring of glucose in tears in the eye. The device will be constructed by an interdisciplinary approach, which, as a primary intellectual merit of the proposed research, combines graphene nanotechnology, synthetic polymer chemistry, and flexible micro-electro-mechanical systems. Graphene, a single, tightly packed layer of carbon atoms bonded together in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice, is emerging as a highly promising functional nanomaterial in chemical and biological sensors. Such sensors at present most commonly operate in solid- or gas-phase environments, and their use in liquid media is relatively limited. In particular, graphene has not yet been explored to enable affinity glucose sensing in physiological fluids. This research exploits the high surface-charge sensitivity, mechanical flexibility and optical transparency of graphene for glucose measurement in tears. The graphene will be functionalized with a synthetic, boronic acid-derivatized polymer and bonded on a mechanically flexible, contact lens-shaped substrate. By differential measurement of changes in the electric conductance of graphene due to specific affinity binding between the boronic acid moieties and glucose molecules, the device will allow specific, sensitive and rapid measurement of glucose concentration. In this design, the device will possess optimal miniaturization to attain a rapid time response, high sensitivity to effect improved glucose measurement accuracy, and mechanical flexibility to reduce adverse tissue-device interactions. With future integration of wireless telemetry, the nanosensor can enable stable and accurate continuous glucose monitoring in a noninvasive, nonobstructive and convenient manner.