Label-free, non-invasive and cost-effective monitoring of HIV viral load using a nano-plasmonic sensor on a contact lens

 描述（由申请人提供）：评估和监测HIV+患者的病毒载量及其抗逆转录病毒（ART）治疗依从性对于控制疾病进程、评估传播风险和监测社区内的HIV感染至关重要。病毒载量测量目前在实验室环境中进行，使用昂贵且笨重的设备，包括台式光学显微镜和样品制备步骤，其需要先进的实验室仪器，其难以在资源有限的环境中或在患者家中找到和操作。除了现有工具的复杂性、成本和庞大性之外，HIV病毒载量测量方法目前依赖于抽血，这通常会在资源有限的环境中或在家中产生重大的卫生和安全问题。拟议的研究计划包括开发和测试一种现场便携式和无标签的柔性传感平台，该平台基于专门设计的准三维金属纳米结构（MNS）的表面等离子体共振（SPR）特性，将与市售软性隐形眼镜集成，以创建一种具有成本效益和非侵入性的诊断工具，甚至可以在家中测量HIV+病毒载量患者使用泪液。这种新的传感平台将被设计为通过在柔性基板上构建其传感单元来实现灵活性，从而能够与弯曲的物体进行亲密的直接接触。 或不规则表面如人眼，而不需要任何额外的样品获取或处理步骤，并且不会模糊自然视觉或引起用户不适。除了集成到接触透镜表面上的柔性等离子传感器之外，我们还将创建一个场 便携式和具有成本效益的基于智能手机的光谱读取器平台，通过多光谱成像和每个接触透镜表面上的内置纳米传感器的自动分析来具体分析和量化病毒载量。先前的研究已经表明，HIV颗粒存在于HIV+患者的泪液和眼液中，因此通过泪液追踪HIV状态可以为监测HIV+患者及其对ART的依从性提供更安全和更简单的方法。除了改善护理依从性和通过泪液膜非侵入性地量化HIV+患者的病毒载量之外，该提议的平台最终将提供一种简单，具有成本效益和重量轻的工具集， 化学传感需求，使可穿戴传感器的各种其他未来生物医学应用成为可能。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant: Assessment and monitoring of the viral load of HIV+ patients and their adherence to antiretroviral (ART) therapy are critically important for controllig the course of the disease, assessing transmission risks, and monitoring of HIV infection within communities. Viral load measurements are currently conducted in laboratory settings using costly and bulky apparatus including benchtop optical microscopes and sample preparation steps that require advanced lab instruments, which are hard to find and operate in resource limited environments or at the patient's home. In addition to the complexity, cost and bulkiness of existing tools, HIV viral load measurement methods currently rely on blood drawing, which can in general create significant sanitary and safety concerns in resource limited settings or at home. The proposed research plan covers the development and testing of a field-portable and label-free flexible sensing platform that is based on surface plasmon resonant (SPR) properties of specially designed quasi three-dimensional metal nanostructures (MNS) which will be integrated with commercially available soft contact lenses to create a cost effective and non-invasive diagnostic tool that can work even at home for measuring the viral load of HIV+ patients using tear. This new sensing platform will be designed to achieve flexibility by constructing its sensing unit on flexible substrates to enable intimate, direct contact with curved or irregular surfaces such as the human eye without any additional sample retrieval or processing steps and without obscuring natural vision or causing user discomfort. In addition to the flexible plasmonic sensor integrated onto the contact lens surface, we will also create a field portable and cost- effective smart phone based spectral reader platform to specifically analyze and quantify the viral load through multi-spectral imaging and automated analysis of the built-in nano-sensor on the surface of each contact lens. Previous studies have shown that HIV particles exist in tear and ocular fluids of HIV+ patients, and therefore tracking HIV status through tear can present a much safer and simpler approach for monitoring of HIV+ patients and their adherence to ART. In addition to improving care adherence and non- invasively quantifying the viral load of HIV+ patients through tear films, this proposed platform will ultimately provide a simple, cost-effective and light-weight toolset for multiplexed biological and chemical sensing needs, enabling various other future biomedical applications of wearable sensors.