Development of an Airborne Pathogen Capture and Detection System

空气传播病原体捕获和检测系统的开发

• 批准号: 2127756
• 负责人: Lia Stanciu
• 金额: $ 28.07万
• 依托单位: Purdue University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127756&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; Airborne; Pathogen; Capture; Detection

The global public health crisis caused by the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent need for disease diagnostics and control tracing strategies for airborne pathogens. A large number of pathogens, such as viruses or bacteria, are present in and transmitted through microscopic particles that originate from an infected person’s speech, cough, sneeze, or breathe. Such particles can easily be transmitted when people congregate in close quarters such as cultural and sporting venues, churches or common living spaces. However, the presence of such airborne pathogenic particles are not effectively monitored today by any readily available detection methods. In response to this situation, the investigators aim to design an airborne pathogen particle collection and detection system with the ability to track the presence of airborne pathogens in indoor spaces. A biosensing related education-research-training model is also proposed; it will educate a diverse cohort of science and engineering students who traditionally lack exposure to research on the integration of materials chemistry, biology, device design, and manufacturing technologies and ways to bring these together into one overall technical skillset. This program will empower students to address both critical scientific and professional workforce gaps.Efforts to mitigate exposure to airborne pathogens in enclosed spaces first require knowledge of their presence and quantity in such areas. Current indoor air monitoring methods involve collecting air samples and analyzing them by colony/plaque counting assay, which requires an incubation period, or by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). As a solution, this project proposes an integrated airborne pathogen collection and detection system, with the ability to collect aerosolized pathogens and detect them with electrochemical biosensors. The project aims to develop the science base necessary for the deployment of an automatic airborne pathogen monitoring system that will allow detection of the presence of airborne pathogenic particles in interior spaces. The system comprises a wet impactor, microfluidics and chemoresistive electrochemical sensing units, coupled with wireless transmission. While the model target will be specific to coronavirus by targeting Spike Protein S displayed on artificial virus-like particles, a protein common to four types of common cold, as well as the current SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, this project will build the science base necessary for the design of a platform technology for the capture and detection of any airborne pathogens in enclosed spaces. Anti-S antibodies and anti-S aptamer sequences will be tested and evaluated for detection performance in a chemoresisitve biosensing unit fed by spiked concentrator buffers. System performance in terms of detection limits, specificity, sensitivity and biosensor shelf-life will verify success. The system will continuously sample the air, separate airborne particles, collect particles ranged from 100 nm to 2.5 µm into a buffer solution with the collection efficiency of 99%, and display the results. As part of the educational component, the team will initiate and lead an effort to design a multidisciplinary curriculum model for science and engineering graduate and undergraduate students that incorporates concepts from Chemistry, Biology Materials Science, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, as well as Chemistry, Health Science, and Biology.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.

最近的新冠肺炎大流行引发的全球公共卫生危机凸显了对空气传播病原体的疾病诊断和控制追踪战略的迫切需要。大量病原体，如病毒或细菌，存在于微小颗粒中并通过这些微粒传播，这些微粒源于感染者的言语、咳嗽、打喷嚏或呼吸。当人们聚集在文化和体育场馆、教堂或公共生活空间等近距离时，这种颗粒很容易传播。然而，目前任何现成的检测方法都不能有效地监测这种空气传播的致病颗粒的存在。针对这种情况，研究人员的目标是设计一种空气传播病原体颗粒收集和检测系统，能够跟踪室内空间中空气传播病原体的存在。还提出了与生物传感相关的教育-研究-培训模式；它将教育传统上缺乏接触材料化学、生物学、设备设计和制造技术以及如何将这些整合为一个整体技术技能的研究的不同科学和工程专业学生。这项计划将使学生能够解决关键的科学和专业劳动力缺口。要减少在封闭空间中暴露于空气传播病原体的风险，首先需要了解这些领域中病原体的存在和数量。目前的室内空气监测方法包括采集空气样本，并通过菌落/空斑计数法(需要一段潜伏期)或定量聚合酶链式反应(QPCR)进行分析。作为解决方案，该项目提出了一个集成的空气传播病原体收集和检测系统，具有收集气雾化病原体并用电化学生物传感器检测它们的能力。该项目旨在为部署自动空气传播病原体监测系统建立必要的科学基础，该系统将能够检测室内空间中空气传播病原体颗粒的存在。该系统包括湿冲击器、微流体和化学电阻电化学传感单元，并结合无线传输。虽然模型的目标将是针对冠状病毒的，目标是人工病毒样颗粒上显示的尖峰蛋白S，一种四种普通感冒常见的蛋白质，以及目前的SARS-CoV-2疫情，但该项目将为设计一种平台技术来捕获和检测封闭空间中的任何空气传播病原体奠定必要的科学基础。抗S抗体和抗S适配子序列将在由尖峰集中器缓冲器供电的化学抗性生物传感单元中进行检测性能测试和评估。系统在检测下限、特异度、灵敏度和生物传感器保质期方面的表现将验证成功。该系统将连续采样空气，分离空气中的颗粒物，将100 nm至2.5微米的颗粒物收集到缓冲液中，收集效率为99%，并显示结果。作为教育部分的一部分，该团队将发起并领导一项努力，为理工科研究生和本科生设计一个多学科课程模式，其中纳入了化学、生物材料科学、机电工程以及化学、健康科学和生物学的概念。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。