SBIR Phase I: Development of an Optical Biosensor to Facilitate Screening, Validation, and Development of Novel Drugs and their Biological Targets

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The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will improve drug discovery. The proposed project will advance the development of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), a novel optical biosensor technology, that will accelerate the pace and efficiency of drug screening campaigns in academia as well as the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. There are currently no biosensor technologies on the market that offer the combination of high sensitivity, robust reusability, antibody-like binding affinity, and low cost. This project will culminate in the development of a technology and reagent-based kits for applications at scale. The proposed project advances a technology engineered from a temperature, pH, and chemically stable proprietary protein composed of two fragments that bind with antibody-like affinity and specificity. The technology has been demonstrated to be effective in a variety of antibody-like applications, but without the stability shortcomings that plague traditional antibodies. By overcoming key barriers that limit large-scale use of SPR chips, this technology enables chip reuse and streamlines laboratory workflows, thus endowing the system with broad utility in antibody-centered applications. The project has three goals: establish suitability of the technology for the complete characterization of molecular interaction pairs, evaluate the technology’s robustness and versatility, and validate the technology in drug screening campaigns.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.