PFI-TT: High-Yield Production and Processing of Boron Nitride Particles for Biomedical Applications

该创新-技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发高亮度探针（HBPs），这将扩大当前试剂市场规模，并通过使更多研究人员能够在没有高端荧光显微镜的情况下研究基因检测来创造新的就业机会。HBPs还可以支持使用信使核糖核酸（mRNA）的救生疫苗的开发。该项目有两个目标，概述如下。该项目的首要目标是将氮化硼颗粒的产量提高10倍至25倍。第二个目标是将后续化学处理的产率提高5倍。实现这些目标将使行业能够开始高亮度探头（HBP）的初步商业化，每年的市场价值为100万至1000万美元。拟议的研究将涉及三名女性研究科学家之间的合作，并激发来自不同背景的年轻本科生和研究生的研究兴趣。拟议的项目将为基因研究提供大量的知识价值。研究人员可以通过用1至18个HBPs染色而无需扩增来检测每个基因分子，并获得比现有产品亮10倍的信号。目前的商业探针需要研究人员对每个基因分子染色30-50个探针。由于HBPs允许每个基因分子使用更少的探针，因此HBPs可以提供更长的探针长度以增加检测特异性。HBPs的高亮度还允许在没有扩增的情况下进行基因检测，并将提高基因序列的定量准确性。现有的商业产品涉及扩增过程，其消耗成本和时间并且降低准确性。由于HBPs消除了信号放大步骤，新的探针将减少至少2- 4倍的检测成本和时间。由于高亮度和每个基因靶点的探针数量较少，HBPs允许科学家检测短而稀有的基因分子，这在目前的技术中是不可能的。这些稀有基因的发现将带来新的生物医学发现。最后，HBP可以将图像映射速度提高1000倍（X-Y-Z扫描：10 x10 x10），并增强图像分辨率。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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 the development of high-brightness probes (HBPs), which will expand the current reagent market size and create new jobs by enabling more researchers to investigate gene detection without high-end fluorescent microscopes. HBPs can also support the development of life-saving vaccines that use messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs). The project has two objectives summarized as follows. The first objective of this project is to increase the production yield of boron nitride particles by 10X to 25X. The second objective is to enhance the yield of the subsequent chemical processing by 5X. Achieving these goals will allow industries to start the initial commercialization of high-brightness probes (HBPs) with a market value of $1M to $10M per year. The proposed research will engage collaboration among three female research scientists and stimulate the research interest of young undergraduate and graduate students who come from diverse backgrounds. The proposed project will offer substantial intellectual merit for genetic research. Researchers can detect each gene molecule by staining with 1 to 18 HBPs without amplification and obtain 10X brighter signals than existing products. Current commercial probes require researchers to stain 30-50 probes per gene molecule. Since HBPs allow the use of fewer probes per gene molecule, HBPs could offer longer probe lengths to increase the detection specificity. The high brightness of HBPs also allows gene detection without amplification and will enhance the quantification accuracy of gene sequences. The existing commercial products involve amplification processes, which consume cost and time and degrade accuracy. Since HBPs eliminate the signal amplification steps, the new probes will reduce the detection cost and time by at least 2-4X. Owing to the high brightness and fewer probe number per gene target, HBPs allow scientists to detect short and rare gene molecules, which is currently impossible with the current technologies. The detection of such rare genes will lead to new biomedical discoveries. Finally, HBPs could increase the image mapping speed by 1000X (X-Y-Z scan: 10x10x10) with enhanced image resolution.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.