EAGER: Breath-Based Early and Fast Detection of COVID-19 Infection

摘要本研究项目的目的是通过对人体呼吸进行采样，早期快速检测COVID-19感染。根据世界卫生组织（WHO），COVID-19疾病目前是由2019-nCoV病毒引起的大流行病。由于缺乏对这种新型病毒的先天免疫力和治疗手段，进一步遏制这种疾病传播的唯一途径是通过早期诊断。然而，对于许多感染者来说，这种疾病仍然没有症状，但他们可能会传播COVID-19，并在不知不觉中感染更多的人群。 该项目将为从人类呼吸样本中诊断COVID-19感染带来新的方法。研究者建议使用破坏性方法进行传染病诊断，特别是COVID-19的检测。这种方法涉及对人类-或拟议工作中的动物-受试者的呼吸进行采样，以获得三种气体信号代谢物（即COVID-19生物标志物）。该项目的假设是，受试者感染2019-nCoV病毒后这些生物标志物的相对变化幅度提供了这种感染的早期和明显信号。PI将通过生产三传感器阵列来测试这一假设，利用基于二元金属氧化物的选择性电阻气体传感器，并通过测试感染β-冠状病毒的猪的呼吸以及感染COVID-19的人类的呼吸。将对明确或潜在感染的受试者重复进行测量，以绘制生物标志物随时间的上升和下降。将测量结果与它们中释放的促炎细胞因子的相对浓度相关联，有望产生大流行感染的诊断工具。诊断原型工具将配备无线功能，作为护理点的快速部署，早期检测手段。拟议的研究和技术旨在为未来的诊断奠定基础。通过生物标志物监测建立有效诊断冠状病毒疾病的途径，并建立在任何症状出现之前早期检测COVID-19所需的规范，预计将是拟议研究的主要成果。设想促进呼吸分析作为第一响应、现场、护理点、个性化诊断方法。对参与该项目的学生进行跨学科研究的培训是该研究项目的额外好处。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且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。

AbstractThe aim of this research project is to enable early and rapid detection of infection COVID-19 by sampling human breath. COVID-19 disease is a pandemic currently, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) caused by the 2019-nCoV virus. Without innate immunity to the novel virus and with the lack of therapeutic means to treat it, the only way to contain the spread of this disease further is through early diagnosis. However, for many infected individuals the disease remains asymptomatic, yet they can potentially transmit COVID-19 and unknowingly infect more of the population. This project will lead to new approach to diagnose COVID-19 infection from sampling human breath. The investigator proposes to use a disruptive approach to infectious disease diagnosis and to the detection of COVID-19 specifically. This approach involves sampling the breath of human-- or animal in the proposed work-- subjects for three gaseous signaling metabolites (i.e. COVID-19 biomarkers). The hypothesis of the project is that the magnitude of the relative change in these biomarkers upon the subject’s infection with the 2019-nCoV virus provides an early and distinct signal of this infection. The PI will test this hypotheses by producing a three-sensor array, utilizing selective resistive gas sensors based on binary metal oxides, and by testing the breath of swine infected by a beta-coronavirus as well as the breath of humans infected by COVID-19. Measurements will be made repeatedly on definitively or potentially infected subjects to map the rise and fall of the biomarkers over time. Correlating the measurements made with the relative concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines released in them is expected to produce a diagnostic tool for the pandemic infection. The diagnostic prototype tool will be equipped with wireless capability for rapid deployment as point-of-care, early detection means. The proposed research and technology aim to set the stage for the diagnostics of the future. Establishing the pathway for the effective diagnosis of coronavirus diseases through biomarker monitoring and establishing the specifications required for the early detection of COVID-19 before any symptoms appear are expected to be the major outcomes of the proposed research. Promoting breath analysis as a first response, on-site, point-of-care, personalized diagnostics method is envisioned. Training students working on this project on interdisciplinary research is an added benefit of this research project.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.