I-Corps: Low-cost photothermal nanosensors for quantitative biomarker detection using a thermometer

该 I-Corps 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发新的、低成本、便携式生物标志物检测方法，以应对不断增长的生物分子检测器市场，用于疾病诊断和护理点癌症生物标志物检测等各种应用。例如，前列腺癌是美国男性癌症死亡的第二大原因。预计今年该疾病将出现 191,930 例新病例和 33,330 例死亡。然而，目前的前列腺癌诊断技术是侵入性的，并且需要昂贵的仪器，这极大地削弱了它们在医生办公室或患者床边等资源匮乏的环境中进行即时护理 (POC) 检测的能力。所提出的光热纳米生物传感器使用温度计进行定量生物传感。 纳米生物传感器快速、低成本、微创，不需要昂贵的设备和经过培训的人员进行数据记录和处理；这可以在小型医生办公室进行前列腺特异性抗原（PSA，一种前列腺癌生物标志物）测试。 基于温度计的纳米生物传感器还可用于检测各种其他疾病生物标志物和生化物质。I-Corps 项目基于基于温度计的纳米传感器的开发，用于前列腺特异性抗原 (PSA) 等生物标志物的即时 (POC) 检测。该创新基于使用温度计作为信号读取器的生物传感方法。基于温度计的纳米生物传感器不仅快速、低成本且便携，而且还最大限度地减少了仪器要求。此外，纳米生物传感器的检测灵敏度与传统免疫分析方法相当。拟议的光热免疫传感器可能会为疾病生物标记物的检测提供新的机会。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of new, low-cost, portable biomarker detection methods in response to the growing market of biomolecular detectors for various applications such as disease diagnosis and cancer biomarker detection at the point of care. For example, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. It is estimated that 191,930 new cases and 33,330 deaths from this disease will occur this year. However, the current technologies for prostate cancer diagnosis are invasive, and require expensive instrumentation, which significantly impairs their capacity for point-of-care (POC) detection in low-resource settings such as physician’s offices or at a patient’s bedside. The proposed photothermal nanobiosensor uses a thermometer for quantitative biosensing. The nanobiosensor is rapid, low-cost, minimally invasive, and does not require expensive equipment and trained personnel for data recording and processing; This may enable prostate-specific antigen (PSA, a prostate cancer biomarker) testing in small physician’s offices. The thermometer-based nanobiosensor also may be used to detect a variety of other disease biomarkers and biochemicals.This I-Corps project is based on the development of the thermometer-based nanosensor for point-of-care (POC) detection of biomarkers such as the prostate-specific antigen (PSA). The innovation is based on a biosensing method using a thermometer as the signal reader. The thermometer-based nanobiosensor is not only rapid, low-cost, and portable, but also minimizes instrumentation requirements. In addition, the nanobiosensor offers comparable detection sensitivity to conventional immunoassay methods. The proposed photothermal immunosensor may open up new opportunities for affordable detection of disease biomarkers.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.