Development of Biodiagnostic Devices based on Differential Adhesion Mediated by DNA Hybridization

该项目的目标是开发和优化检测未知DNA链的方法，方法是将携带DNA的微小颗粒附着到带有互补DNA链的表面。这类技术将把DNA杂交作为一种高保真的识别未知链的手段，与基于珠粒的粘合结合在一起，其中大量的互补链导致DNA检测中的信噪比更高，以及对影响结合的外部变量的依赖程度更高，如温度、分子密度和流速。此外，使用微米颗粒将导致对结合的简单光学检测，这将促进和拓宽检测方法。所建立的方法将有助于病原菌中外源DNA的检测，从而为病原体检测和反生物恐怖主义的国防提供依据。

The objective of this project is to develop and optimize methods for the detection of unknown DNA strands by the adhesion of micro-sized particles bearing DNA to surfaces bearing complementary strands of DNA. Such techniques would combine DNA hybridization as a high fidelity means of identifying unknown strands, with bead based adhesion, in which the large number of complementary strands leads to a higher signal-to-noise in DNA detection, as well as a sharper dependence on external variables that affect binding, such as temperature, molecular density and flow rate. Furthermore, the use of micro-sized particles would lead to simple optical detection of binding, which would facilitate and broaden the methods for detection. The methods developed here will be useful for the detection of foreign DNA from pathogenic bacteria, and thus be useful for pathogen detection and the national defense against bioterrorism.