Population monitoring of stress markers in underserved communities

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Daily stresses, as well as social, emotional, and financial challenges, can activate physiological stress. Current public health monitoring systems cannot quantify community stress levels for millions of low-resource and underserved communities. By identifying communities experiencing high levels of stress using wastewater- based epidemiology, public health professionals can allocate resources to communities in need. Additionally, proactively (rather than retrospectively) identifying stress crises can help alleviate the long-term consequences of stress such as chronic heart diseases as well as neurological and life-threatening diseases and fatalities. Wastewater monitoring is a proven strategy to identify areas needing intervention instead of relying on population surveys or emergency-room, hospital/clinics data statistics. However, current wastewater analysis requires costly laboratory-based tests that involve labor-intensive sample collection, transportation, and analysis, resulting in long (days) turnaround times. Giner proposes to develop a compact, portable, label-free Graphene Field Effect Transistor (G-FET) sensor utilizing high-specificity aptamers for rapid, accurate, cost- effective, and multiplexed monitoring of well-established stress biomarkers in wastewater samples. Since the sensor generates rapid results compared to incumbent methods which rely on batch sampling of wastewater streams followed by expensive, time-consuming analysis, this technology will provide actionable real-time data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent methods, encouraging widespread use. The overall goal of the program is to demonstrate a test methodology and a field-ready prototype for simultaneous detection of multiple stress biomarkers in wastewater at pg/mL levels. To support the proof of concept and alleviate risk, Giner has successfully detected peptide biomarkers in wastewater solutions including one of the target stress markers, Neuropeptide Y (NPY). We will add two additional stress biomarkers, Cortisol and Cortisone, as well as a population marker Paraxanthine in Phase I. Multiple samples from various wastewater sites will be analyzed with Giner’s sensor and the results will be cross-validated in house using the gold standard HPLC-MS/MS method. Giner will achieve this by using its prior expertise in biosensors and wastewater testing and in close collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of scientists, social scientists, and public health epidemiologists. Once developed, the technology will also be suitable for the detection of any additional target wastewater biomarkers for which an aptamer can be prepared.