SBIR Phase I: Rapid Reagent-Less Multi-Channel Biological Agent Detector

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目建议展示一种基于MEMS的小型、无试剂的生物试剂检测器的可行性，该检测器能够同时对数十个(甚至数百个)分析物进行快速分析，以检测单个细菌/孢子分辨率的整个细菌(或孢子)。针对生物战剂和自然发生的病原体，如耐药结核病或食品和水污染的国防，需要低成本、强大和易于使用的生物制剂快速检测和识别技术。需要快速检测以提供早期预警，以最大限度地减少接触人员的数量，并为接触者提供及时和有效的医疗救治。目前的鉴定技术依赖于耗时的放大，这也大大增加了检测器的成本、复杂性、功率要求和尺寸，因为它必须执行多个样品处理步骤并提供必要的试剂。在这个第一阶段的项目中，波士顿微系统公司将在美国海军研究实验室的帮助下，通过制造原型单通道检测器，将球形芽孢杆菌的抗体固定在检测器上，将它们暴露在球形芽孢杆菌的样本中，并量化响应和检测极限，来量化建议的生物制剂检测器的性能。该项目的主要商业应用是在国土防御中。然而，拟议的生物制剂检测器在医疗诊断、农业综合企业和环境监测领域可能会有更多的重要应用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a miniaturized MEMS-based, reagent-less biological agent detector, capable of performing rapidassays for tens (or even hundreds) of analytes simultaneously, for detection of whole bacteria (or spores) with single bacteria/spore resolution. National defense against biological warfare agents and naturally occurring pathogens, such as drug resistant tuberculosis or food and water contaminates, requires low cost, robust, and easy to use technologies for rapid detection and identification of biological agents. Rapid detection is needed to provide early warning to minimize the numbers of exposed personnel, and to provide timely and effective medical treatment of those exposed. Current identification technologies depend on time-consuming amplification, which also adds appreciably to the cost, complexity, power requirements and size of the detector as it must perform multiple sample treatment steps and provide the necessary reagents. In this Phase I Project, Boston MicroSystems, with the assistance of the US Naval Research Laboratory, will quantify the performance of the proposed biological agent detector by fabricating prototype single channel detectors, immobilizing antibodies for bacillus globigii onto the detectors, expose them to samples of bacillus globigii, and quantify the response and detection limits.The prinicipal commercial application of this project is in homeland defense. However, the proposed biological agent detector may have significant additional applications in the areas of medical diagnostics, agribusiness, and environmental monitoring.