PFI-TT: Development of A Rapid and Reliable Point-of-Care Screening for Infectious Diseases (COVID-19)

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在抗击大流行病/流行病方面改善公共卫生成果，如新冠肺炎。迫切需要一种快速、经济、简便和可靠的大规模筛查方法，以控制和防止新出现的大流行性疾病的传播。拟议的项目将展示一种快速检测病毒的大规模筛查方法，可用于识别早期感染的个人进行隔离。拟议的产品可能会在许多环境中使用，如考试中心、诊所、学校卫生诊所和机场管制。该项目还将：为来自不同背景和代表性不足的群体的学生以及当地的K-12教师和学生提供研究和实习机会；为参与的学生提供创业培训；并发展新的产学伙伴关系。这项工作将使快速和可靠的护理点检测具有负担得起、简单和快速的好处，这将减少用户的上机时间和成本。拟议的项目将解决目前在分子传感和诊断中快速、负担得起、简便和可靠的检测的挑战。该项目将开发一种新的机制，通过在纳米尺度上将分子计算与特定目标识别和信号放大相结合来设计智能分子设备。具体目标包括开发一种快速检测病毒RNA的溶液分析，以及一种用户友好的系统，用于与侧向流动设备集成。这项拟议的研究将采用多学科方法，结合计算设计、分子组装和电路以及生化分析。这一奖项反映了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 broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to improve public health outcomes in combating pandemic/epidemic diseases, such as COVID-19. An urgent need exists for a rapid, cost-effective, facile and reliable assays for mass screening to control and prevent the spread of emerging pandemic diseases. The proposed project will demonstrate a mass screening method to rapidly detect viruses, which can be used to identify early infected individuals for quarantine. The proposed product can be potentially used in many settings such as test centers, clinics, school health clinics and airport controls. The project will also: offer research and internship opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented groups, as well as local K-12 teachers and students; entrepreneurship training for participating students; and develop new industrial-academic partnerships. This work will enable rapid and reliable point-of-care detection with benefits of affordability, simplicity and rapidity, which will reduce user onboarding time and costs.The proposed project will address the current challenge of a rapid, affordable, facile and reliable detection in molecular sensing and diagnosis. The proposed project will develop a novel mechanism of engineering smart molecular devices by integrating molecular computation with specific target recognition and signal amplification on the nanoscale. The specific goals include the development of a solution assay to rapidly detect viral RNA, and a user-friendly system for integration with a lateral-flow device. The proposed research will employ a multidisciplinary approach that combines computational design, molecular assembly and circuits, and biochemical assays.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.