Engineering Highly Functional Components for Low-Cost Sensors for Personal Use

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The key objective of our research program is to establish new scientific and engineering principles that can be applied to create ultra-low cost (pennies) sensors that can be used by any untrained individual to monitor the safety of their drinking water and food. These sensors can be used in a variety of social contexts including developing countries, remote areas (such as the Northern Canada) as well as in highly developed cities. Having access to information is the first step to catalyze transformation - these low-cost sensors have the potential to drive change, mainly in poor regions. For the past six years our group, in collaboration with others, has developed a series of paper-based sensors for the detection of pathogens, heavy metals and specific sequences of nucleic acids in various samples, such as water and food. As part of that work, we learned much about paper fluidics, signal amplification using enzymatic reactions, printing of bioinks and device prototyping. More importantly, we also identified key scientific and engineering challenges that stand in the way of putting these sensors into the hands of users. These challenges are crystallized as the goals for this Discovery Grant; they will be the focus for a group of 16 students who will benefit from training under this grant.Goal 1. Create new hybrid materials that will serve as a general platform for the functionalities needed in working sensors. The functionalities will be provided in a plug-and-play manner and will include: sample preparation, target capture, and signal generation. The hybrid material consists of long molecules of DNA physically entrapped in protein repelling hydrogels composed of poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate) (POEGMA). The DNA is the “business” part of the material and can be used to “load” the required functionalities into the hybrid material as needed for specific sensors.Goal 2: In many cases, having the sensors is not sufficient for Practical, Real-world Application because molecular recognition elements, such as functional nucleic acids and enzymes, require temperature control for reliable performance. We will create several low-cost devices to control the temperature of sensors in the field. These devices will satisfy the following design constraints: (1) all electronic/battery parts can be ordered through Amazon® or Alibaba®, so they are available anywhere in the world; (2) the structural parts of the device can be 3D printed - files will be made available via internet; (3) the instructions for assembling the device can fit on one page.The combination of New Hybrid Materials and Low-cost Devices for Temperature Control will bring us closer to the final goal of giving people around the world the ability to monitor the presence of contaminants that threaten their lives. This ability will be transformational for a large group of people, especially those living in developing regions of the world.