IDBR: TYPE A- The ThruProt Analyzer: Bringing Proteomics to the Field Using a Sample-to-Answer Electronic Multiplexed Platform

授予罗格斯大学新玩法开发一种电池供电的手持敏感仪器的合同，其目的是检测蛋白质组，用于实地环境监测。用于蛋白质分析的便携式设备几乎影响了生物学和生物医学科学的所有领域。环境样品的蛋白质分析通常需要收集和储存样品，并在数周至数月后返回实验室以开始分析数据。拟议的仪器将允许现场分析生物样品。这项研究的结果将是一个仪器，是手持和推广到个人生物实验室的需要。这种颠覆性的工具将对基础生物学以及临床、生物技术和农业研究有价值。该工具还将带来更大的社会效益，包括改善农业实践和更深入地了解环境生物学，这对保护环境是必要的。这是一项多学科的工作，结合了工程，纳米纤维，化学，物理和生物学，并提供了一个很好的机会，教育和培训研究生，本科生和高中生。 拟议研究的重要教育成果之一包括构建教学模块，这些模块将被纳入生物传感器和生物仪器开发的大规模开放式在线课程（MOOC）中。将与罗格斯大学科学多样性和学术成功办公室合作，吸引代表性不足的学生学习STEM学科。拟开发的样品到答案便携式蛋白质分析仪将利用1）芯片上微流体样品制备，2）用于定量低丰度蛋白质的解耦数字蛋白质检测用于实现多路复用能力的珠粒的纳米电子条形码，以及4）用于保持超紧凑足迹的基于芯片上磁体的流体蠕动泵送。纳米电子条形码通过在微粒表面上制造可调纳米电容器来工作，有效地调节颗粒的频率依赖性介电性质，允许一个珠条形码与另一个珠条形码区分开，可能在100倍复用的规模上。通过将基于电子的解决方案用于所提出的仪器的所有关键模块，可以显著降低读出仪器的成本和尺寸，从而真正实现现场分析。该设备将在现场进行验证，环境样品，检测限，准确性和测定时间的基准的一组光合作用蛋白质从绿色绿Picochlorum。研究结果将通过在专业会议上的演讲和提交给同行评审期刊与工程和实验生物学社区分享。该仪器的研究价值将通过与Rutgers BioMAPS定量生物学研究所和Rutgers综合蛋白质组学研究中心的合作伙伴关系广泛传播。为了准备该技术的商业化和广泛传播，将与罗格斯新兴技术创新风险投资中心和罗格斯技术商业化办公室密切合作。

An award is made to Rutgers University New Brunswick to develop a battery powered handheld sensitive instrument whose purpose is to detect panels of proteins for field based environmental monitoring. A portable device for protein analysis virtually impacts all fields of biology and also the biomedical sciences. Protein analysis of environmental samples typically requires collecting and storing samples and returning weeks to months later in labs to begin analyzing the data. The proposed instrument will instead allow for point-of-use on the field analysis of biological samples. The result of this research will be an instrument that is handheld and generalizable to the needs of individual biological laboratories. This disruptive tool will be valuable for basic biology, as well as clinical, biotechnological, and agricultural research. This tool will also have greater societal benefits including improving agricultural practices and deeper insights into environmental biology, which is necessary for protecting the environment. This is multidisciplinary work that combines engineering, nanofabrication, chemistry, physics, and biology and provides a great opportunity to educate and train graduate students, undergraduates, and high school students. One of the important educational outcomes of the proposed research includes building teaching modules that will be incorporated into a massive open online course (MOOC) in biosensor and bioinstrumentation development. Collaborations will be developed with the Rutgers Office for Diversity and Academic Success in the Sciences to attract under-represented students to the study of STEM disciplines.The proposed sample-to-answer portable protein analyzer to be developed will utilize 1) on-chip microfluidic sample preparation, 2) decoupled digital protein detection for quantification of low abundance proteins 3) nanoelectronic barcoding of beads for enabling multiplexing capability, and 4) on-chip magnet based fluidic peristaltic pumping for maintaining an ultra-compact footprint. Nanoelectronic barcoding works by fabricating tunable nano-capacitors on the microparticle surface, effectively modulating the frequency dependent dielectric properties of the particles allowing one bead barcode to be distinguished from another, potentially on the scale of 100-fold multiplexing. By using electronic based solutions for all of the key modules of the proposed instrument, the cost and size of the readout instrumentation can be significantly reduced, thus truly enabling on-the-field analysis. The devices will be validated in the field with environmental samples, benchmarking for detection limit, accuracy, and assay time for a panel of photosynthesis proteins from the green alga Picochlorum. The results will be shared with the engineering and experimental biology communities via presentations at professional meetings and submission to peer-reviewed journals. The research value of the instrument will be broadly disseminated through partnerships with the Rutgers BioMAPS Institute for Quantitative Biology and the Rutgers Center for Integrated Proteomic Research. To prepare for commercialization of the technology and broad distribution, there will be close collaboration with the Rutgers Center for Innovative Ventures of Emerging Technologies and the Rutgers Office of Technology Commercialization.