The Multicorder

我们建议创建世界上第一个广谱传感器技术-多订单。我们将通过开发和推进尖端微电子工程来实现这一目标。电子领域是由互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）技术主导的。CMOS使现代计算和通信成为可能，也对数码相机芯片等传感技术产生了巨大影响。最近，CMOS使个人基因组机的发展成为可能，这是下一代测序系统。我们建议创造一种技术来感知个人代谢组。这一点很重要，因为基因组可能表明个体对某种疾病的倾向，而代谢组是对身体功能的直接测量，因此提供了一种诊断手段。并不是所有可能的疾病都能用代谢组来测量。我们还建议使用相同的基本技术来检测微生物传染因子。已经存在于体内或环境（如医院病房）中的细菌将成为目标，减轻诸如医院获得性感染等重大问题。进一步的受益者是能够在基础设施支持有限的发展中国家使用的诊断工具和高度便携的系统。我们还预见到这项研究将取得更雄心勃勃的成果，我们希望在实现这些成果方面取得进展。我们设想，一旦完成对患者或污染区域的全面测量和分析，Multi-Corder技术将为药物化学合成的新方法奠定基础。我们将演示如何使用该技术对化学活性进行直接、高速的可视化，以及如何使用这些数据来控制合成所需的化学过程。我们要解决的目标是利用微电子技术在单个芯片上制造许多（如果需要的话，可以是数百万）设备的能力，或者将各种技术集成在一起。核心的半导体技术将通过化学、光刻和生物技术来增强，以构建复杂的功能。我们的方法是基于已建立的跟踪记录、新见解和新兴技术的组合，我们已经建立了试验可行性。利用我们现有的知识作为跳板，我们将利用项目赠款为我们提供的灵活性和协作框架来创造令人兴奋的新技术。

We propose to create the world's first broad spectrum sensor technology - the Multi-Corder. We will do this by exploiting and advancing leading-edge microelectronic engineering. The world of electronics is dominated by complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. CMOS has made modern computing and communications possible and has also made an enormous impact on sensing technology such as the digital camera chip. Most recently CMOS has enable the development of the personal genome machine - a next generation sequencing system. We propose to create technology to sense the personal metabolome. This is important since where the genome may indicate an individual's propensity towards a disease, the metabalome is an immediate measurement of body function, hence provides a means of diagnose. Not all possible afflictions are measurable using the metabalome. Using the same fundamental technology we also propose to detect microbial infectious agents. Bacterial affliction already in the body, or in the environment (e.g. a hospital ward) will be targetted, alleviating major problems such as hospital acquired infection. Further beneficiaries are in point of use diagnostic tools and highly portable systems capable of use in the developing world where there is limited infrastructural support.We also foresee yet more ambitious outcomes from the research, and we expect to made progress towards their realisation. We envisage that once a full measurement and analysis of a patient or a contaminated area is achieved, the Multi-Corder technology will underpin new methods of chemical synthesis for drugs. We will demonstrate the use of the technology for direct, high-speed, visualisation of chemical activity, and the means by which the data can be used to control the chemical process required for synthesis.The targets that we will address will take advantage of the ability of microelectronics to make many (millions if needs be) of devices on a single chip, or to integrate diverse technologies together. The core semiconductor technology will be augmented by chemical, lithographic and bio-technologies in order to build complex functions. Our approach is based on a combination of established track record, new insights, and emergent technologies for which we have established trial feasibility. Using our current knowledge as a springboard, we will exploit the flexibility and collaborative framework that a Programme Grant will afford us to create an exciting new technology.