SBIR Phase I: Micro/Nanofluidic Protein Profiler for Pathogen Detection

该小企业创新研究（SBIR）一期项目将开发用于病原体检测和鉴定的微/纳米流体蛋白质组学平台。该系统基于在一次性微流控芯片中使用高分辨率，二维（2-D）蛋白质分离来生成蛋白质表达图，可用于识别特定病原体特有的生物标志物模式。早期发现和识别生物战剂的有效技术是至关重要和日益重要的。这种新型的小型化检测平台将能够满足通用病原体检测的关键要求，能够在一个检测平台中识别细菌、病毒和蛋白质毒素。该系统将在短短15分钟的周期内提供识别，比同类微阵列技术快得多。此外，它将不使用生物活性试剂进行操作，也不需要预先知道样品中可能存在哪些病原体。如果成功，所提出的技术将为快速识别环境病原体提供独特的解决方案，有利于广泛的现场部署应用。采用纳米级检测通道和共聚焦扫描显微镜的进一步小型化将使单分子水平的蛋白质谱分析成为超灵敏的早期病原体检测的可能。除了需要为反恐应用改进病原体检测外，在9万多个公共卫生和安全设施中有200多万应急人员，他们实际上处于国土防御的第一线，他们将直接受益于成本效益高的技术，以迅速发现或消除潜在的生物战威胁。尤其重要的是，这些人员能够获得能够进行广谱病原体检测的检测工具，而不需要先验地知道可能存在哪些病原体。此外，快速、准确的细菌鉴定在生物战防御以外的应用中至关重要。将从这些发展中受益的行业包括疾病诊断、新出现的健康危害预测、监测潜在的食品污染和生物过程调节。此外，这项技术将为生物制药行业提供生物标志物鉴定和药物发现的蛋白质组学工具。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a micro/nano fluidic proteomic platform for pathogen detection and identification. The system is based on the use of high-resolution, two-dimensional (2-D) protein separations in disposable microfluidic chips to generate protein expression maps which may be used to identify biomarker patterns unique to specific pathogens. Effective technologies for the early detection and identification of biological warfare agents are of critical and growing importance. The novel miniaturized detection platform will be capable of meeting key requirements for universal pathogen detection with the ability to identify bacterial, viral, and protein toxin agents in a single detection platform. The system will provide identification within a short 15 minute cycle time, significantly faster than comparable microarray technologies. Furthermore, it will not employ biologically active reagents for its operation and will not require a priori knowledge of which pathogens may be present in a sample. If successful, the proposed technology will provide a unique solution for rapidly identifying environmental pathogens, with benefits for a wide range of field-deployable applications. Further miniaturization employing nanoscale detection channels with confocal scanning microscopy will enable protein profiling at the single molecule level for ultra-sensitive early pathogen detection. In addition to the need for improved pathogen detection for antiterrorism applications, there are over two million emergency response personnel located at over 90,000 public health and safety facilities who are effectively on the front lines of homeland defense, and who will directly benefit from cost-effective technologies to quickly detect or dismiss potential biowarfare threats. It is particularly vital for these personnel to have access to detection tools capable of broad spectrum pathogen detection without the need for priori knowledge of which pathogens may be present. In addition, rapid, accurate bacterial identification is critically important in applications outside of biowarfare defense. Industries which will benefit from these developments include disease diagnosis, prediction of emerging health hazards, monitoring potential food contamination, and bioprocess regulation. Furthermore, the technology in this effort will offer benefits to the biopharmaceutical industry as a proteomics tool for biomarker identification and drug discovery.