EAGER: Bio-Inspired Nanostructured Microsensor Arrays for Selective Chemical Sensing

提案：1445488PI: Hansen， Karolyn m .标题：EAGER：生物启发的纳米结构微传感器阵列选择性化学传感生物利用高度进化的嗅觉系统以极大的特异性和敏感性检测气味。虽然嗅觉器官和系统的结构和特异性因物种而异，但有两个共同的主题-与气味相互作用的高表面积和捕获特定气味的气味受体蛋白质。高表面积和气味受体蛋白的结合使生物能够检测到多种感兴趣的气味，这些气味的浓度范围很广，例如昆虫可以检测到不同的花香。昆虫的嗅觉器官，天线，是我们提出的研究的生物灵感：制造一种高灵敏度和选择性的微机械传感器，它使用高表面积和特定的捕获蛋白质来检测气味。这种新的生物传感器将明显比目前的类似物更敏感，并将能够更早、更精确地检测挥发性有机化合物。这些化合物对于从爆炸物检测到癌症诊断的应用都很重要，因此拟议的技术将产生重大的社会影响。技术描述：提出的传感器平台，微机械悬臂，将用高表面积的二氧化硅纳米结构制造，气味受体蛋白将被系在上面，从而模仿生物嗅觉系统中广泛发现的两个原理。我们将探索一种基本的基于悬臂梁的传感模式：动态模式操作，其中结合的气味分子的质量改变了谐振悬臂梁的频率。在一种创新的方法中，二氧化硅纳米结构是利用二氧化硅的低温掠角沉积（GLAD）以后处理的方式创建的，即在制造悬臂平台之后。GLAD沉积有利于可选择（纳米结构元素组成）和可调（密度、形状、宽高比）表面结构的制造。纳米结构表面将被人类气味受体蛋白序列衍生的受体肽局部功能化，这些受体肽选择性地结合感兴趣的挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）。微悬臂技术允许制造多个悬臂传感器阵列，其中阵列的元素被单独功能化以同时感测多个目标分析物。这个跨学科项目将生物传感与微机械纳米结构传感器结合起来，用于低水平（十亿分之一）VOC分析物的检测。

Proposal: 1445488PI: Hansen, Karolyn M.Title: EAGER: Bio-Inspired Nanostructured Microsensor Arrays for Selective Chemical SensingOrganisms detect odors with great specificity and sensitivity using highly evolved olfactory systems. While the structure and specificity of olfactory organs and systems varies species to species, there are two common themes -- high surface area for interaction with odors and odorant receptor proteins for capture of specific odors. The combination of high surface area and odorant receptor proteins allows the detection of multiple odors that are of interest to the organism and that are present in a wide range of concentrations, for example the detection of different flower scents by insects. The insect olfactory organ, the antenna, is the bio-inspiration for our proposed research: fabrication of a highly sensitive and selective micromechanical sensor that uses both high surface area and specific capture proteins for odor detection. This new biosensors will be significantly more sensitive than current analogs and will enable earlier and more precise detection of volatile organic compounds. Such compounds are important for applications ranging from explosives detection to cancer diagnostics, therefore proposed technology will have significant societal impact.Technical description: The proposed sensor platform, the micromechanical cantilever, will be fabricated with high surface area silicon dioxide nanostructure to which odorant receptor proteins will be tethered thereby mimicking the two principles widely found in biological olfactory systems. We will explore a fundamental cantilever-based sensing modality: dynamic-mode operation in which the mass of the bound odor molecules changes the frequency of a resonant cantilever. In an innovative approach, the silicon dioxide nanostructures are created using low-temperature glancing angle deposition (GLAD) of silicon dioxide in a post-processing manner, i.e. after the fabrication of the cantilever platforms. GLAD deposition facilitates fabrication of selectable (nanostructure elemental composition) and tunable (density, shape, aspect ratio) surface structure. Nanostructured surfaces will be locally functionalized with receptor peptides derived from human odorant receptor proteins sequences, which selectively bind the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of interest. Microcantilever technology allows fabrication of multiple cantilever sensor arrays in which the elements of the array are individually functionalized to sense a number of target analytes simultaneously. This interdisciplinary project integrates biological sensing with micromechanical nanostructured sensors for low-level (parts per billion) detection of VOC analytes.