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

该创新合作伙伴关系 - 技术转化 (PFI-TT) 项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是改善抗击 COVID-19 等大流行病/流行病的公共卫生成果。迫切需要一种快速、具有成本效益、简便且可靠的大规模筛查检测方法，以控制和预防新出现的流行性疾病的传播。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者进行隔离。拟议的产品可用于许多环境，例如测试中心、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群体的学生以及当地 K-12 教师和学生提供研究和实习机会；参与学生创业培训；并发展新的产学合作伙伴关系。这项工作将实现快速、可靠的现场检测，具有经济性、简单性和快速性等优点，从而减少用户的使用时间和成本。拟议的项目将解决当前分子传感和诊断中快速、经济、简便和可靠检测的挑战。该项目将通过将分子计算与纳米级特定目标识别和信号放大相结合，开发一种工程智能分子设备的新机制。具体目标包括开发一种快速检测病毒 RNA 的解决方案，以及一种与侧流装置集成的用户友好系统。拟议的研究将采用结合计算设计、分子组装和电路以及生化测定的多学科方法。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值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.