CAREER:"ASSURED" electrochemical platform for multiplexed detection of Cancer Biomarker Panel using Shear-Enhanced Nanoporous-Capacitive Electrodes

许多用于护理点设备的生物传感器受到选择性和灵敏度的限制，这限制了它们在检测和监测传染病（如HIV和某些癌症）中的应用。为了克服这些限制，将开发一种新的具有高灵敏度和选择性的电化学生物传感器。选择性和灵敏度的提高将通过在电极之间填充纳米结构以产生高剪切力来实现。预期的结果是一种生物传感器，它可以在非常低的浓度下检测、鉴定和定量多种乳腺癌生物标志物蛋白。相关科学开辟了令人兴奋的新途径，例如用于检测水中阿片类药物的电化学测量和治疗药物新制造技术的开发。首席研究员将寻求研究，实验和教育之间的紧密结合。PI将培训对生物传感技术领域感兴趣的下一代科学家和工程师，并在本科和研究生阶段指导研究人员（包括少数民族和女性），并通过实践演示在科学和工程领域的早期阶段激励K-12学生。用于传染病或癌症的早期诊断的生物传感器对于早期干预、患者护理和降低患者死亡率至关重要。目前的生物传感器通常在低浓度下失效，因为它们不够敏感（以防止假阴性）或选择性（以防止假阳性）。该项目的总体目标是开发一种新的电化学传感方法，该方法使用剪切增强，流通，纳米多孔和电容电极技术，从而产生非常灵敏和选择性的生物传感器。新的生物传感器的性能将超过当前的生物传感器，因为（i）电极纳米孔隙率将促进氢键量级的剪切力的发展，这将通过减轻非特异性吸附而显著增加选择性;（ii）生物传感器的设计将消除信号伪影，例如寄生双层电容，从而促进快速，结合信号的高分辨率表征，噪声显著降低，导致灵敏度增加;以及（iii）纳米多孔电极结构将增加感兴趣的分析物到感测元件的对流传输，从而克服扩散限制并减少测定时间。为了促进生物传感器的开发，PI将研究，分析和模拟生物传感器的电化学响应，从单一种类的目标生物分子与其互补的生物传感元件的结合。将详细研究纳米多孔电容电极的物理化学特性随增强的剪切力的沿着的影响。将开发一种多重电化学表征方法，以使用真实世界的复杂样品测试乳腺癌生物标志物组，并验证生物传感器技术与商业测定的对比。该项目的多学科性质将用于培养学生在实验室和实验技术的各个层次，并增加他们将选择跨学科研究作为职业道路的可能性。这一推广工作将利用社交媒体，利用我们现有的教育关系，并包括课堂演示，教师培训，以及与NJIT荣誉学院的教育同行指导会议。这项STEM宣传活动的目标人群包括新泽西州纽瓦克和新泽西州联盟地区的市中心高中，这些高中主要为代表性不足的学生群体服务。还将为研究生举办统计培训讲习班和开发相关工具，以增加统计循证培训。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many biosensors used in point-of-care devices suffer from selectivity and sensitivity limitations that restrict their application in detecting and monitoring infectious diseases (such as HIV and certain cancers). To mitigate these limitations, a new electrochemical biosensor with high sensitivity and selectivity will be developed. The improvement in selectivity and sensitivity will be realized through packing nanostructures between electrodes to generate high shear forces. The expected outcome is a biosensor which detects, identifies and quantifies multiple breast cancer biomarker proteins at very low concentrations. The related science opens exciting new avenues such as electrochemical measurements for the detection of opioids in water and the development of new manufacturing techniques for therapeutic drugs. The principal investigator will seek close integration among research, experiments and education. The PI will train the next generation of scientists and engineers who are interested in the area of biosensing technology, and mentor researchers (including minorities and female) at undergraduate and graduate level, as well as inspire K-12 students in science and engineering fields at the early stage of their learning career through hands-on demonstrations. Biosensors for early diagnostics of infectious diseases or cancer are vitally important for early intervention, patient care, and reduction of patient mortality. Current biosensors often fail at low concentrations, as they are not sufficiently sensitive (to prevent false-negatives) nor selective (to prevent false-positives). The overall objective of this project is to develop a new electrochemical sensing method that uses a shear-enhanced, flow-through, nanoporous and capacitive electrode technology, resulting in a very sensitive and selective biosensor. The performance of new biosensor will exceed that of current biosensors as (i) the electrode nanoporosity will facilitate the development of shear forces of the order of a hydrogen bond that will significantly increase selectivity by mitigating non-specific adsorption; (ii) the design of the biosensor will negate signal artifacts such as the parasitic double layer capacitance, thus facilitating rapid, high-resolution characterization of the binding signal with a significant reduction in noise leading to increased sensitivity; and (iii) the nanoporous electrode architecture will increase convective transport of the analyte of interest to the sensing element, thus overcoming diffusion limitations and reducing assay times. To facilitate the development of the biosensor, the PI will investigate, analyze and model the electrochemical response of the biosensor from the binding of a single species of target biomolecule to its complementary biological sensing element. The effects of physiochemical characteristics of the nanoporous capacitive electrode along with the enhanced shear forces will be studied in detail. A multiplexed electrochemical characterization method will be developed to test for breast cancer biomarker panel using real-world, complex samples and to validate the biosensor technology against commercial assays. The multidisciplinary nature of this project will be used to train students at all levels in laboratory and experimental techniques, and increase the likelihood that they would choose interdisciplinary research as a career path. This outreach effort will harness social media, leverage our existing educational relationships, and include classroom demonstrations, teacher training, and educational peer-mentored conference with NJIT Honors College. Among the target populations of this STEM awareness campaign are inner-city high schools in the locales of Newark, NJ and Union, NJ that primarily serve largely underrepresented student bodies. Statistical training workshops and related tools will be also developed for graduate students to increase statistical evidence-based training. Validated assessment tools will be used to evaluate the success of these outreach and educational activities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.