Nanospiked Electrochemical Sensors in Acrylic Microfluidics for Clostridium difficile Toxin Detection

艰难梭菌（C. difficile）是住院患者腹泻的最常见感染性原因。目前商业上可获得的测试不能满足快速、低成本、灵敏和选择性的所有要求。本项目将开发一个新的平台来实现上述目标。这项研究的成功将产生广泛的科学影响。首先，所提出的便携式传感平台将被扩展用于广泛的应用。其次，它将丰富纳米结构表面将如何影响传感性能的基础知识。在丙烯酸微流体平台上获得的纳米结构电极知识可以影响其他重大挑战的传感研究，例如食品安全和水系统。研究结果将通过以下方式传播给更广泛的受众：a）课程开发，B）纳入本科生和研究生的基于项目的学习，以及c）代表性不足的群体，特别是女性学生的参与。该提案旨在开发基于新型电化学阻抗谱（EIS）分析C. nanospiked电极表面实现的difficile。具体而言，我们建议结合联合收割机工程的纳米表面与软光刻技术，以制造重复可控的电化学电极，以低成本。我们预计这种电极将提高灵敏度，这要归功于表面上纳米尖峰的高面积体积比和小尺寸。纳米电极将在一个简单的制造过程后，在一个丙烯酸胶带微流体平台上实现。所开发的便携式C.将对艰难感知进行评价，以指导器械设计。我们预计这项研究的成果将包括1）对纳米生物传感性能的全面了解，2）工程纳米刺电化学生物传感器平台的变革性方法，以及3）具有纳米刺电极的便携式丙烯酸微流体设备，用于即时生物传感C。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得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的支持。

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the most common infectious cause of diarrhea in hospitalized patients. Current commercially available tests cannot meet all the requirements of being rapid, low cost, sensitive, and selective. This proposed project will develop a novel platform to achieve the above goals. The success of the proposed research will make several broad scientific impacts. First, the proposed portable sensing platform will be extended for a broad range of applications. Second, it will enrich the fundamental knowledge of how nanostructured surfaces will affect the sensing performances. The acquired knowledge of nanostructured electrodes on the acrylic microfluidic platform can impact sensing research on other grand challenges, such as food safety and water systems. Research results will be disseminated to reach broader audiences by a) course development, b) incorporation into project-based learning for undergraduate and graduate students, and c) involvement of underrepresented groups, especially female students.This proposal aims to develop portable, easy-to-fabricate acrylic microfluidic devices based on novel electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis of C. difficile enabled by nanospiked electrode surfaces. Specifically, we propose to combine engineering of nanospiked surfaces with a soft lithography technique to fabricate repeatedly controllable electrochemical electrode with low cost. We anticipate such electrodes will enhance the sensitivity thanks to the high area-to-volume ratio and small size of nanospikes on the surface. The nanospiked electrodes will be implemented on an acrylic-tape microfluidic platform following a simple fabrication process. The capability of the developed portable device for C. difficile sensing will be evaluated to guide the device deign. We anticipate the outcomes of the study will include 1) a thorough understanding of nanobiosensing performance, 2) a transformative method for engineering nanospiked electrochemical biosensors platforms, and 3) portable acrylic microfluidic devices with nanospiked electrodes for point-of-care biosensing of C. difficile.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.