EAGER: Colorimetric Detection of Zika and other Viruses Through Their Surface Proteins and Nucleic Acids

研究人员将开发可在现场部署的廉价传感器，以检测一般的致命和致病性病毒，并以寨卡病毒为具体例子，以证明其可行性。该传感器将在检测到特定病毒时改变颜色，而不需要重复进行DNA测序和扩增，这需要时间和昂贵的全球部署。寨卡病毒预计将在今年夏天再次出现在拉丁美洲，并影响我们的城市，如迈阿密。该系统可用于埃博拉病毒、克里米亚刚果出血热、拉沙热等多种病毒的检测。聚合酶链反应试剂盒目前可用于检测寨卡病毒，但耗时且无法在农村地区部署。研究人员建议开发一种适配体水凝胶，其嵌入的互补链附着在ZIKV的表面蛋白质上，并通过其多孔腔吸收它们，使水凝胶经历（100%）体积和（~30%）颜色变化，这是由其嵌入的直径为50纳米的金纳米颗粒引起的。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The investigator will develop field-deployable, inexpensive sensors to detect deadly and pathogenic viruses, in general, and Zika virus as a specific example to demonstrate feasibility. The proposed sensors will change their color when they detect specific viruses without any need for recurring DNA sequencing and amplification that requires time and are expensive for global deployment. Zika virus is expected to re-emerge this summer in Latin America and affect our cities such as Miami. The system can be adopted to detection of many other viruses such as Ebola, Crimean Congo hemorrhage fever, and Lassa fever. Polymerase chain reaction kits are currently available to detect the ZIKV virus but are time consuming and cannot be deployed in rural areas. The investigator is proposing to developing an aptamer hydrogel with embedded complementary strands that attach to the surface proteins of the ZIKV and absorbs them through its porous cavities causing the hydrogel to undergo (100%) volume and (~30%) color change caused by its embedded 50 nm diameter gold nano-particles.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.