Electrochemical Aptamer-Based Biosensors for Salivary Molecular Measurements

开发一种可用于测量牙周炎发病所固有的特定生物标记物浓度的设备将改变目前临床诊断这种疾病的方式。同样，这项技术将允许患者在家中舒适地与他们的口腔健康保持联系，就像血糖仪一样。对此，我们建议与我们的工业合作伙伴合作，评估基于电化学适配子的生物传感器在未稀释的唾液中轻松部署的能力，未稀释唾液是一种非侵入性基质，用于监测患者的健康并测量与这种疾病相关的固有生物标志物。基于电化学适配子的生物传感器已经显示出前所未有的能力，可以直接在未稀释的复杂基质中，如全血，甚至直接在活体中对广泛的分子进行实时、连续、一步和无试剂的测量。不幸的是，没有关于它们在未稀释的唾液中容易部署的能力的可行性研究已经完成，这反过来限制了它们在临床和护理点的适用性。考虑到基于电化学适配子的生物传感器几乎可以检测到任何感兴趣的目标，通过更换适配子这一简单的权宜之计，它们可能会在口腔健康环境中被证明是革命性的，以帮助提供者识别风险并优化预防。这项提议是为了获得必要的资金，对部署在未稀释唾液中的基于电化学适配子的生物传感器进行模型系统的概念验证研究，以评估其对该传感平台的分析性能的影响，并评估制定漂移和校准战略的必要性。我们预计，这项可行性研究将被证明是追求一种方便和可推广的传感平台以改善口腔健康的关键。

Developing a device amenable to the point-of-care for the measurement of the concentrations of specific biomarkers that are inherent to the onset of gingivitis would transform how this disease is currently diagnosed in the clinic. This technology would, likewise, allow patients to remain connected to their oral health within the comfort of their homes in an analogous fashion to the glucometer. In response, we propose here, with the collaboration of our industrial partner, to evaluate the ability of electrochemical aptamer-based biosensors to readily deploy in undiluted saliva, a non-invasive matrix to monitor patients' health and measure inherent biomarkers of interest associated with this disease. Electrochemical aptamer-based biosensors have demonstrated unprecedented abilities in performing real-time, continuous, single-step and reagentless measurements of a wide range of molecules directly in undiluted complex matrices, like whole blood, and even directly in the living body. Unfortunately, no viability studies toward their ability to readily deploy in undiluted saliva have been completed, which in turn, limits their applicability in the clinic and at the point-of-care. Considering that electrochemical aptamer-based biosensors can detect virtually any target of interest, via the simple expedient of changing the aptamer, they could prove transformative in an oral health setting to help providers identify risks and optimize prevention. This proposal is for securing the necessary funds to undertake a proof-of-concept study of model systems electrochemical aptamer-based biosensors deployed in undiluted saliva to evaluate its impact on the analytical performance of this sensing platform and evaluate the need to develop drift and calibration strategies. We envision that this viability study will prove essential in the pursuit of a convenient and generalizable sensing platform to improve oral health.