Scalable Manufacturing of Nanostructured Bioassemblies for Low-Cost Portable Biosensors

对于能够可靠地、可重复地以低成本大批量生产具有功能性生物活性的纳米结构材料的制造工艺的需求日益增长。在广泛的应用中需要这些技术，特别是在医疗诊断以及环境和食品监测方面。例子包括可穿戴生物传感设备的响应材料，柔性生物电子学，功能性隐形眼镜，智能屏幕和智能包装。例如，具有适当检测灵敏度和选择性的生物活性纳米结构对于开发用于家庭和护理点诊断的低成本设备尤为重要。这项研究将开发一种利用三维（3D）打印技术，在柔性和廉价的基材（如纸和塑料）上大规模制造功能性生物活性纳米结构的工艺。该奖项将使开发一种易于使用、便携且价格低廉的新型生物传感设备成为可能。研究成果将通过期刊和会议报告传播，包括纳米制造设备传感能力的实际演示，为高中教师提供课程改进和专业发展研讨会，与工业界合作，并为学生提供创业培训。该项目将开发具有明确光学、电子特性和生物功能的纳米生物活性材料的可扩展制造方法。总体目标是通过打印获得对混合生物活性纳米结构形成机制的基本理解，并利用这些知识开发可扩展的低成本诊断应用的生产方法。研究小组将专注于具有独特粘度和成分的环保印刷油墨的工程设计，以保持功能性纳米级特性和生物活性。这些纳米结构将集成生物识别、信号放大和检测能力，并将作为一体化的生物传感设备。将开发制造步骤和检测方案，以促进整个传感单元的自动打印并实现无试剂操作。该方法可以扩展到合成其他具有定制功能的混合纳米结构和器件。该方法将为使用低成本、通用和可控的制造工艺原位组装混合生物活性纳米结构开辟道路。

There is a growing demand for developing manufacturing processes that can reliably and reproducibly generate nanostructured materials with functional bioactive properties at low cost and in large quantities. These technologies are needed in a wide range of applications, especially in medical diagnostics and in environmental and food monitoring. Examples include responsive materials for wearable biosensing devices, flexible bioelectronics, functional contact lenses, smart screens and intelligent packaging. For example, bioactive nanostructures that have the appropriate detection sensitivity and selectivity are particularly important for the development of low cost devices for home and point-of-care diagnosis. This research will develop a process for large scale manufacturing of functional bioactive nanostructures on flexible and inexpensive substrates such as paper and plastic, using three-dimensional (3D) printing. This award will enable the development of a new class of biosensing devices that are easy to use, portable and inexpensive. Research outcomes will be disseminated through journals and conference presentations, including hands-on demonstrations of the sensing capabilities of the nanomanufactured devices, curriculum enhancement and professional development workshops for high school teachers, collaboration with industry, and providing entrepreneurial training for students.This project will develop scalable fabrication methods for nanobioactive materials with defined optical and electronic properties and biological functionality. The overall goal is to gain fundamental understanding of the formation mechanism of hybrid bioactive nanostructures by printing and to use this knowledge to develop scalable production methods for low cost diagnostic applications. The research team will focus on the engineering design of eco-friendly printing inks of characteristic viscosity and composition that maintain functional nanoscale properties and bioactivity. These nanostructures will integrate biorecognition, signal amplification and detection capabilities and will function as all-in-one biosensing devices. Fabrication steps and detection schemes will be developed to facilitate automatic printing of the entire sensing unit and enable reagentless operation. The approach can be expanded to the synthesis of other hybrid nanostructures and devices with tailored functionality. The method will open the way for the in situ assembly of hybrid bioactive nanostructures using a low cost, versatile and controllable manufacturing process.