SBIR Phase I: Development of a Novel Biosensor to Accelerate Investigations of COVID-19 and the Gut Microbiome.

这一小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响将是进一步了解SARS-CoV-2，COVID-19和人类肠道微生物组之间的相互作用，可能为COVID-19患者带来新的治疗方法。 该项目将开发一种新型生物传感器，以实现对人类肠道微生物组与COVID-19之间联系的低成本，高度标准化的研究，以帮助评估不同治疗方法，药物，疫苗和其他临床干预措施的性能。最后，一旦该项目成功完成，就有一个长期的机会来增加该技术的检测能力，从而能够在家中实时跟踪高风险患者及其护理人员粪便样本中的SARS-CoV-2流行情况。该项目将开发一种传感器，以便从粪便样本中分离和保存微生物RNA。 现有的技术保存了微生物DNA，但不够敏感，无法保存稳定性差得多的RNA。该项目将根据技术性能、RNA稳定性长度、试剂成本和储存要求评估候选提取和固定试剂。同时，该项目将开发一个先进的系统架构，使一个可扩展的解决方案，广泛使用。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be advanced understanding of the interaction between SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, and the human gut microbiome, potentially resulting in new treatment approaches for COVID-19 patients. This project will develop a novel biosensor to enable low-cost, highly standardized studies of links between the human gut microbiome and COVID-19 to help evaluate the performance of different therapeutic approaches, drugs, vaccines, and other clinical interventions. Finally, once this project is successfully completed, there is a longer-term opportunity to add detection capability to the technology, enabling real-time, at-home tracking of SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in stool samples of high-risk patients and their caretakers. This would enable the technology to become a continuous viral detection tool.The proposed project will advance a sensor to allow isolation and preservation of microbial RNA from stool samples. Existing technique preserve microbial DNA but are not sensitive enough to preserve the far less stable RNA. The project will evaluate candidate extraction and fixative reagents based on technical performance, length of RNA stability, reagent cost, and storage requirements. Simultaneously, the project will develop an advanced systems architecture enabling a scalable solution for widespread use.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.