EAGER: Robotized Plasmonic Nanosensors for High-Throughput Detection

题目：EAGER：用于高通量生化检测的机器人等离子体纳米传感器目标：该提案的目标是探索一种用于超低浓度分子高通量检测的机器人等离子体纳米传感器的创新范例。摘要：纳米传感器具有超灵敏、高通量的特点，是早期疾病诊断的关键。由于纳米材料独特的物理性质，人们在单分子敏感纳米传感器方面做出了巨大的努力。然而，纳米传感器的高灵敏度是以低浓度生物分子的检测时间较长为代价的。这是由于稀分子附着在纳米级物体上的可能性很低。因此，高灵敏度和低检测速度都是纳米传感器尺寸小型化的结果。这一紧迫问题极大地阻碍了纳米生物传感器的实际应用。在这项工作中，PI提出探索机器人等离子体纳米传感器的创新概念，通过主动机械旋转来提高检测吞吐量，同时保持高灵敏度。如果成功，这项工作可以加速实现即时诊断和早期癌症检测，从而改善人们的医疗保健。这也将有利于我们的下一代，从本科到研究生的水平，特别晋升到工程领域代表性不足的女学生。PI将在材料研究学会会议上组织研讨会，聚集学术界和工业界在这一快速发展领域的领先研究人员，以加速技术发现和转移。技术摘要：本研究的目的是探索一种自动化等离子体纳米传感器的创新模式，用于超低浓度分子的高通量检测。具有单分子灵敏度的纳米级传感器已取得重大进展。然而，传感器的纳米级特性使其能够进行超灵敏的检测，但由于分子对小可用传感区域的固有低附着概率，也导致了低检测速度。在实际应用中，纳米传感器的制造和集成非常复杂，如微流体系统。在这个概念验证项目中，将尝试将等离子体纳米传感器自动化成高度可控的纳米马达，以解决上述挑战。利用PI最近开发的基于交流和直流电场的高效纳米操作技术——电动镊子，将传感器组装并驱动成电动传感器。通过控制纳米传感器的机械旋转，产生有效的流体对流，加速了分析物分子与纳米传感器表面的结合平衡，从而大大提高了对超低浓度分子的检测速度。由于以前没有对此类系统进行过研究，其机制也没有经过测试或证明，因此该建议将呈现高风险，同时可能具有变革性。如果成功，该研究将创新地将等离子体活性纳米颗粒集成并驱动到功能性纳米机电系统（NEMS）设备中，以增强生化检测，代表了光学纳米传感器从被动/静态方式向动态/可驱动方式的新进展。机器人光学传感器的概念和优势，如果得到批准，将适用于所有类型的纳米传感器。

Title: EAGER: Robotized Plasmonic Nanosensors for High-Throughput Biochemical Detection Goal: The goal of the proposal is to explore an innovative paradigm for robotizing Plasmonic Nanosensors for high-throughput detection of ultralow-concentration molecules.Nontechnical Abstract:Nanosensors with ultra-sensitivity and high throughput are pivotal for early-stage disease diagnosis. Significant efforts have advanced nanosensors with single-molecule sensitivity owing to the unique physical properties of nanoscale materials. However, the high sensitivity of nanosensors comes at the expense of an adversely long detection time for low-concentration biomolecules. It is due to the low probability of dilute molecules to attach to nano-sized objects. Therefore, both the effects of the high-sensitivity and low-detection speed result from the miniaturized dimensions of nanosensors. This pressing issue has greatly hindered the practical application of nano-biosensors. In this work, the PI proposes to explore an innovative concept of robotized plasmonic nanosensors for enhancing the detection throughput via active mechanical rotation while retaining the high sensitivity. If successful, this work can accelerate the reality of point-of-care diagnosis and early cancer detection that improve people's healthcare. It will also benefit our next-generation from undergraduate to graduate levels with special promotions to the underrepresented female students in engineering. Organization of a symposium at the Materials Research Society Meeting by the PI will gather leading researchers from both academia and industry in this fast developing field for accelerating technological discovery and transfer. Technical Abstract:The objective of this research is to explore an innovative paradigm for robotizing plasmonic nanosensors for high-throughput detection of ultralow-concentration molecules. Significant efforts have advanced nanoscale sensors with single-molecule sensitivity. However, the nanoscale features of sensors, which enable ultrasensitive detection, also result in a low detection speed due to the intrinsic low-attachment probability of molecules to the small available sensing areas. The difficulties are compounded further by the complex fabrication and integration of the nanosensors to existing systems, such as microfluidics, for practical applications. In this proof-of-concept project, an attempt will be made to robotize plasmonic nanosensors into highly controllable nanomotors to address the aforementioned challenges. The sensors will be assembled and actuated into motorized sensors by utilizing the electric tweezers an efficient nanomanipulation technique, based on the combined AC and DC electric fields, developed by the PI recently. The greatly enhanced detection speed for ultralow-concentration molecules is expected owing to the effective fluidic convection as a result of the controlled mechanical rotation of the nanosensors, which could accelerate the affiliation equilibrium of analyte molecules with the surfaces of nanosensors. Since no such kind of systems has been investigated previously and the mechanisms have not been tested or proved, this proposal will present high risk, while potentially transformative. If successful, the proposed research will innovatively integrate and actuate plasmonic-active nanoparticles into functional nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) devices for enhanced biochemical detection, representing a new advance of optical nanosensors from a passive/static fashion to a dynamic/actuatable fashion. The concept and advantages of the robotized optical sensors, if approved, should be applicable and transformative to all types of nanosensors.