Scalable Manufacturing of Nanostructured Bioassemblies for Low-Cost Portable Biosensors

对于开发能够以低成本和大量可靠地和可再现地产生具有功能性生物活性性质的纳米结构材料的制造工艺的需求不断增长。这些技术的应用范围很广，特别是在医疗诊断以及环境和食品监测方面。例子包括用于可穿戴生物传感设备、柔性生物电子、功能性隐形眼镜、智能屏幕和智能包装的响应材料。例如，具有适当的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特别重要。这项研究将开发一种使用三维（3D）打印在柔性和廉价的基底（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。这一奖项将使一类新的生物传感设备，易于使用，便携式和廉价的发展。研究成果将通过期刊和会议演讲传播，包括纳米制造设备的传感能力的实践演示，高中教师的课程改进和专业发展研讨会，与工业界的合作，该项目将开发可扩展的纳米生物活性材料的制造方法，这些材料具有确定的光学和电子特性以及生物活性。功能.总体目标是通过印刷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用于低成本诊断应用的可扩展生产方法。该研究团队将专注于环保印刷油墨的工程设计，其特性粘度和组成保持功能性纳米级特性和生物活性。这些纳米结构将整合生物识别，信号放大和检测能力，并将作为一体化生物传感设备。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混合纳米结构和具有定制功能的器件。该方法将开辟一条道路，原位组装的混合生物活性纳米结构使用低成本，通用和可控的制造工艺。

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.