SBIR Phase I: Temperature-independent SPR Biosensor

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将证明温度无关的表面等离子体共振（SPR）生物传感器用于生物分子灵敏检测的可行性。SPR生物检测已在生物医学研究和药物开发实验室中使用多年。最近在灵敏度和潜在的较低成本方面的改进使得基于SPR的生物传感器能够用于诊断应用，包括病原体、生物标志物、毒素和污染物的测试。然而，目前的SPR仪器容易受到温度引起的测量误差的影响，这限制了它们在该领域的使用。SPR传感器中的热漂移是由传感器的光学介质和样品材料的折射率对环境温度的依赖性引起的。目前，通过稳定仪器测试室中的温度并将温度补偿通道纳入传感器设计中，可以减轻实验室仪器中的热漂移。然而，这些主动措施增加了仪器的复杂性、成本、尺寸和功耗。所提出的温度无关的SPR设计解决了这一根本性的缺陷，并通过匹配芯片的光学基板和被测样品的热光系数，将基于波导的SPR芯片的热灵敏度降低了100~1000倍。如果该项目成功，将扩大SPR生物检测技术的应用范围和市场渗透率。基于所提出的SPR传感器的高灵敏度和低成本，将开发一种手持式仪器，以支持急诊医学、兽医学、食品安全、水产养殖和生物防御领域的多个现场和即时诊断应用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of a temperature-independent surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor for sensitive detection of biological molecules. SPR bio-detection has been used for many years in biomedical research and drug development laboratories. Recent improvement in sensitivity and potentially lower cost enable the use of SPR-based biosensor in diagnostic application, including testing of pathogens, biomarkers, toxins and contaminants. However, current SPR instruments are susceptible to temperature-induced measurement errors that limit their use in the field. The thermal drift in SPR sensors is caused by the dependence of the refractive index of the sensor's optical medium and the sample material on ambient temperature. Currently, this thermal drift is mitigated in laboratory instruments by stabilizing the temperature in the instrument's test chamber and by incorporating temperature compensation channels into the sensor design. However, these active measures increase the instrument's complexity, cost, size and power consumption. The proposed temperature-independent SPR design addresses this fundamental deficiency and reduces by a factor of 100~1000 the thermal sensitivity of a waveguide-based SPR chip by matching the thermo-optic coefficients of the chip's optical substrate and the sample under test. If successful the proposed project will lead to expansion of the application range and market penetration of SPR biodetection technology. Based on the high-sensitivity and low cost of the proposed SPR sensor, a handheld instrument will be developed to support multiple field and point-of-care diagnostic applications in the areas of emergency medicine, veterinary medicine, food safety, aquaculture and biodefense.