AIR: PTTP: Si nanoelectronic FemtoSensor as ultrasensitive, label-free, protein based molecular diagnostic platform

该提案旨在通过强大的学术-工业合作伙伴关系，将德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校（UTD）开发的独特的硅纳米电子生物传感器技术转化为商业产品。拟议的工作将开发一种名为FemtoSensor （femtoMolar sensitivity）应用开发工具包（ADK）的原型仪器，该仪器基于纳米级硅绝缘体（SOI）场效应晶体管（FET），并建立基于蛋白质的概念验证测试，以实现便携式低成本诊断平台，能够对各种疾病进行无标签、快速和早期诊断。多硅纳米通道结构的新设计带来了比以前的生物场效应管的关键优势，例如，同时实现高灵敏度（femtoMolar），选择性和稳定性，正如在血清和肿瘤细胞裂解液样品中重复测试所证明的那样，无需预先纯化。多纳米通道生物场效应管的充分开发将为生物传感器领域带来新的知识。传感器的参数评估将解决应用强电场的生物传感机制的主要未知问题，这对许多类型的使用电动力学的传感器具有高度的变革意义。提出的研究将建立性能曲线的数值模型，以可能地预测传感结果，估计相关误差，并消除对传感器校准的需要。如果成功，FemtoSensor ASK仪器将比ELISA（每年2.4亿美元的市场规模）具有更好的价值，将使大学、研究机构、制药公司、医院/诊所、诊断公司、政府/国防机构的许多研究人员能够开发许多新的疾病检测方法。拟议的活动将促进对生物场效应晶体管的发现和理解，同时也促进学术和工业学习和培训经验。将MBA学生纳入创业团队，将补充理工科学生团队成员，并为学习和实践创新提供更丰富的机会。来自PI的NSF CAREER奖的现有扩展计划将被用于该项目。

This proposal aims to translate a unique Si nanoelectronic biosensor technology well developed at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) towards commercial products through a strong academia-industry partnership. The proposed work will develop a prototype instrument called FemtoSensor (femtoMolar sensitivity) Application Development Kit (ADK) based on a nanoscale Si on insulator (SOI) field effect transistor (FET) and to establish proof-of-concept protein-based tests towards a portable and low-cost diagnostic platform capable of label-free, rapid and early diagnostics of various diseases. The novel design of multiple Si nanochannel architecture brings critical advantages over previous bio-FETs, e.g. simultaneously achieving high sensitivity (femtoMolar), selectivity, and stability, as demonstrated by repeated tests in serum and tumor-cell lysate sample without pre-purification. The full exploitation of the multi-nanochannel bio-FETs will contribute novel knowledge to the field of biosensor. The parametric evaluation of the sensor will address major unknowns of biosensing mechanism where strong electric field is applied, which is highly transformative to many types of sensors using electrokinetics. The proposed study will establish a numerical model of the performance curves to possibly predict sensing results, estimate correlation errors, and eliminate the need for sensor calibrations. If successful, the FemtoSensor ASK instruments with much better figure of merits than ELISA ($240M market size/year) would enable many researchers in university, research institutes, pharma, hospitals/clinics, diagnostics companies, government/defense facilities, to develop many new assays for diseases. The proposed activity will advance discovery and understanding of bio-FETs, while also promoting academic and industrial learning and training experiences. Inclusion of MBA students for entrepreneurship will complement the science and engineering student team members and give a more rich opportunity for learning and practicing innovation. Existing outreach programs from the PI's NSF CAREER award will be leveraged for this project.