Minimally Invasive Molecularly Imprinted Conductive Nanoneedle Sensors

近年来，快速诊断技术的发展有了很大的推动作用，特别是对脓毒症，因为有一个关键的时间窗口，需要对患者进行诊断和治疗。脓毒症的定义是由于宿主对感染的反应失调而导致的危及生命的器官功能障碍。患者的免疫系统进入超负荷状态，引发了一系列反应，包括广泛的炎症。脓毒症是感染死亡的主要原因，特别是如果不及时诊断和治疗的话。脓毒症仍缺乏快速、准确和简单的检测方法。诊断是所有医疗保健的重要组成部分，脓毒症也不例外，尽管临床实验室提供敏感、特异的分析，如血液培养和高通量免疫分析，但它们往往是时间和劳动力密集型的，成本高昂，并且依赖训练有素的操作员。另一方面，医疗点诊断可以在现场提供快速结果，使知情治疗成为可能；然而，这些技术仍在开发中。因此，例如，对于可疑的细菌感染，可以在没有确诊的情况下开出抗生素(增加了抗菌素耐药性的潜在风险)，或者在真正需要时(即当败血症没有得到诊断时)根本不开抗生素。这种模拟纳米传感器将超越目前的最先进水平，开发具有密集纳米针阵列的微创传感器，通过合成分子印迹导电聚合物来开发“合成抗体”，从而从间质液体中隔离和检测目标生物标记物。这种模拟纳米传感器将准确快速地检测脓毒症炎症的特定生物标记物，最终导致优化诊断和治疗。将这一需求带到护理地点可能会改变未来诊断和治疗抗菌素感染患者的方式。

There has been a significant drive in recent years for the development of rapid diagnostics, specifically for sepsis, as there is a crucial time window in which patients need to be diagnosed and treated. Sepsis is defined as a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. The patient's immune system goes into overdrive setting off a series of reactions including widespread inflammation. Sepsis is the leading cause of death from infection, especially if not diagnosed and treated promptly. Rapid, accurate and simple tests are still lacking for sepsis. Diagnosis is an essential part of all healthcare, and sepsis is no exception, and although clinical laboratories offer sensitive, specific assays, such as blood culture and high-throughput immunoassays, they are often time and labour intensive, costly, and dependent on well-trained operators. Point-of-care diagnostics on the other hand, can offer rapid results at site, enabling informed treatments; however, these technologies are still in development. Consequently, for example, antibiotics for suspected bacterial infections can be prescribed without positive diagnosis (increasing the potential risk of antimicrobial resistance), or not prescribed at all when they are really needed (i.e. when sepsis goes undiagnosed). The MIMIC-nano sensors will move beyond the current state-of-the-art by developing minimally invasive sensors with dense arrays of nanoneedles that can sequester and detect targeted biomarkers from interstitial fluid through the development of 'synthetic antibodies' by synthesising molecularly imprinted conductive polymers. The MIMIC-nano sensors will accurately and quickly detect biomarkers specific to inflammation from sepsis, ultimately resulting in optimised diagnosis and treatments. Bringing this need to point-of-care could transform the way patients are diagnosed and treated for antimicrobial infections in the future.