RAPID: Plasmonic Optoelectronic Immunosensing for Point-Of-Care Virus Infection Screening

及时筛查和隔离SARS-CoV-2病毒携带者对于防止新冠肺炎的侵袭性传播至关重要。出于对冠状病毒感染快速、灵敏和可靠检测的迫切需求，该项目旨在提供一种手持诊断模块，用于直接检测病毒，而不需要复杂和耗时的核酸扩增过程。电池供电的便携式系统可以广泛地部署在各种地点(例如，入口港、远程诊所、得来速测试中心等)。智能手机连接的模块旨在实现无线云数据收集/共享，以跟踪感染爆发的位置和数量，以便进行流行病学调查和警报。此外，这种生物传感器模块可以很容易地用于筛选未来疫情中的其他病毒物种。这项创新技术战略性地集成了等离子体生物传感和超低噪声光检测，使使用一次性微流控芯片能够快速、超灵敏地检测SARS-CoV-2病毒及其结构蛋白。该项目的具体目标是(1)合成用于等离子体生物传感的新型抗体或适配子结合的纳米探针材料，(2)纳米制造用于低功率、超低噪声近红外光信号检测的2D过渡金属二卤化物光电探测器，(3)发展理论动力学模型和对导致纳米探针分析的最佳瞬时响应的科学原理的基本理解，以及(4)生物传感器组件的系统集成。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The timely screening and quarantining of SARS-CoV-2 virus carriers are extremely critical to prevent the aggressive COVID-19 transmission. Motivated by the urgent need of rapid, sensitive, and reliable tests of coronavirus infection, this project aims to deliver a handheld diagnostic module for direct detection of the virus without complex and time-consuming nucleic acid amplification process. The battery-operated portable system can be broadly deployed in various locations (e.g., a port of entry, remote clinic, drive-through test center, etc.). The smartphone-connected module is designed to enable wireless cloud data collection/sharing to track the locations and numbers of infection outbreaks for epidemiological surveys and alerts. Additionally, this biosensor module can be readily adapted for screening other viral species in future epidemics.This innovative technology strategically integrates plasmonic biosensing and ultralow-noise photodetection to enable rapid, ultra-sensitive colorimetric detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus and its structural proteins using a disposable microfluidic chip. The specific aims of this project are (1) synthesis of novel antibody- or aptamer-conjugated nanoprobe materials for plasmonic biosensing, (2) nanofabrication of 2D transition metal dichalcogenide photodetectors for low-power, ultralow-noise near-infrared optical signal detection, (3) development of theoretical kinetic model and fundamental understanding of scientific principles that lead to an optimal transient response of the nanoprobe assay, and (4) system integration of biosensor components.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.