Plasmoresistor device for optoelectronic transduction

导致心脏病发作的冠心病是最常见的心脏病类型，每年造成38万人死亡。人们普遍认为，血液中的一种特异性分子，即心肌肌钙蛋白I，是检测心脏病发作的一种高度敏感和特异的指标。虽然有许多实验上可用的生物测定法可用于以必要的灵敏度和特异性检测该分子，但这些测试是耗时的，并且需要经过专门训练的人员。该项目旨在创建一类新型传感器，可以在资源有限的环境中以高灵敏度和极高的选择性检测心肌肌钙蛋白I。拟议工作的长期影响是缩短心脏病发作发生和确定之间的时间，以便能够迅速给予适当的治疗，从而挽救生命并提高患者的生活质量。该提案将侧重于雇用妇女和少数民族研究生进行上述研究。将提供本科生进行夏季研究的机会。该项目还将为高中生，特别是来自代表性不足群体的高中生提供机会，参加大学洁净室的微型和纳米制造夏令营。通过体验式学习的科学活动将直接帮助这些高中生为大学做准备，并提高他们追求专业STEM教育的机会。该项目将利用在设备平台上将光信号转换为电输出，以高灵敏度和特异性检测心脏生物标志物心肌肌钙蛋白I。该装置将由覆盖有半导体薄膜的金纳米颗粒组成，并通过两个电极接触。被照射器件的电导将由等离子体激元诱导的高能热电子确定，这些热电子在金纳米颗粒中产生，随后注入半导体膜中。反过来，金纳米颗粒将被功能化，以特异性地捕获与心脏病发作相关的目标生物标志物。在心肌肌钙蛋白I结合后，直接介电环境的变化将导致金纳米颗粒的局部表面等离子体共振波长的偏移。这将导致等离子体激元产生的热电子注入的减少，并因此降低被照射设备的电导率。因此，光电导的可量化损失将表明生物标志物心肌肌钙蛋白I的存在和浓度，用于检测心脏病发作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack, is the most common type of heart disease killing 380,000 people annually. It has been widely accepted that a specific molecule, the cardiac troponin I, in blood serves as a highly sensitive and specific indicator for the detection of heart attack. While there are numerous commerically available bioassays available to detect this molecule with requisite sensitivity and specificity, these tests are time consuming and require specially trained personnel. This project seeks to create a novel class of sensors which can detect cardiac troponin I with high sensitivity and extreme selectivity in resource-limited settings. The long-term impact of the proposed work is to shorten the time between the occurrence and the determination of a heart attack such that appropriate treatment can be administered rapidly thus saving lives and improving patient quality of life. The proposal will focus on hiring women and minority graduate students for conducting the above research. Opportunities for undergraduate students to conduct summer research will be provided. The project will also provide opportunities for high-school students, especially those from underrepresented groups, to participate in the micro- and nano-fabrication summer camps in the university cleanroom. The experiential learning-based science activities will directly help these high school students to prepare for colleges and improve their chances of pursuing professional STEM education.This project will exploit the conversion of an optical signal into an electrical output on a device platform to detect the cardiac biomarker, the cardiac troponin I, with high sensitivity and specificity. The device will consist of gold nanoparticles covered with a semiconducting film and contacted by two electrodes. The conductance of the illuminated device will be determined by plasmonically induced, energetic hot electrons generated in gold nanoparticles and subsequently injected into the semiconducting film. In turn, the gold nanoparticles will be functionalized to specifically capture the target biomarker associated with heart attack. Upon cardiac troponin I binding, changes to the immediate dielectric environment will result in a shift in localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength of the gold nanoparticles. This will result in the reduction of plasmonically generated hot electron injection and hence lower the conductivity of the illuminated device. Therefore, the quantifiable loss in photoconductivity will signal the presence and concentration of the biomarker, the cardiac troponin I, for detecting heart attack.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.