Paper-based microfluidic devices intergrating inGaN/GaN semiconductor microtubes for ultrasensitive detection of disease markers

能够在护理点快速检测疾病相关标记物的便携式超灵敏生物传感器将通过实现早期疾病诊断和及时治疗对医疗保健产生巨大影响。该项目旨在开发一种新型纸基微流体平台技术，该技术通用用于创建用于各种基于亲和力的分析测试的超灵敏纸基半导体生物传感器。我们将探索一种新策略，以良好控制的方式将专门设计的 InGaN/GaN 微管集成到纸基微流体器件上。与其他半导体材料（例如Si和碳纳米管）相比，InGaN/GaN由于其较高的电子迁移率和表面积累的载流子而对生物分子的表面结合更加敏感，并且可以将生化反应直接转化为电信号，具有超高灵敏度和快速响应。该项目的一项独特技术创新是将纤维素纸和III族氮化物（例如InGaN/GaN）这两种功能材料相结合，创造出一种优秀的生物传感器，继承了纸基微流控和III族氮化物生物传感的优点。为了进行概念验证演示，我们将使用拟议的纸质设备来检测血液样本中的低浓度 HIV p24 抗原。所提出的平台技术将为早期疾病诊断提供高性能解决方案，并且还将支持开发其他类型的纸基电子传感器，用于非诊断应用，例如环境监测、食品安全检查和消费电子产品。

Portable, ultrasensitive biosensors capable of rapidly detecting disease-relevant markers at the point of care will have an enormous impact on health care by enabling early-stage disease diagnosis and timely treatment. This project aims at developing a novel paper-based microfluidic platform technology that is generic for creating ultrasensitive paper-based semiconductor biosensors for various affinity-based analytical tests. We will explore a new strategy of integrating specifically designed InGaN/GaN microtubes onto paper-based microfluidic devices in a well-controlled fashion. Compared to other semiconductor materials (e.g., Si and carbon nanotube), InGaN/GaN are more sensitive to surface binding of biomolecules due to its higher electron mobility and surface-accumulated charge carriers, and can directly convert a biochemical reaction into an electrical signal with ultrahigh sensitivity and fast response. A unique technological innovation to be made in this project is the combination of two enabling functional materials, cellulose paper and group-III nitrides (e.g., InGaN/GaN), to create an excellent type of biosensors that inherit the advantages of both paper-based microfluidics and group-III nitride based biosensing. For proof-of-concept demonstration, we will use the proposed paper-based devices for detection of low-concentration HIV p24 antigen in blood samples. The proposed platform technology will lead to a high-performance solution to early-stage disease diagnosis, and will also enable the development of other types of paper-based electronic sensors for non-diagnostic applications such as environmental monitoring, food safety inspection, and consumer electronics.