NSF Convergence Accelerator Track L: Portable Quantum-enhanced Sensing and Species Identification of Bioaerosols

生物气雾剂包括各种类型的空气悬浮颗粒，其中含有生物来源的物质，包括细菌、病毒、花粉、古生菌、真菌及其碎片和副产品。生物气溶胶直接影响短期和长期的人类、动物、植物和气候健康、生存能力和相关的规模经济。尽管它们很重要，但对生物气溶胶全球质量排放量的估计有1-2个数量级的不确定性，确定生物气溶胶中的特定物种及其来源仍然困难。该项目涉及开发一种汇聚的、真实世界的化学传感方法，以促进对生物气溶胶的来源和时间演变的了解，并在需要时指导其缓解。该项目将提高针对生物气溶胶的传感器技术的技术准备水平，并提供对生物气溶胶识别至关重要的一套传感器的原型。通过开发多模式、现场可部署的生物气溶胶传感器，这项研究有可能减少传染病、过敏原和抗药性基因和生物体的传播。该团队将利用与美国国家海洋和大气管理局、国防威胁减少局、联邦资助的研发中心(包括NASA喷气推进实验室和国家标准与技术研究所)的联合项目，并包括美国私营部门在空间、航空航天和遥感领域的战略翻译合作伙伴。这一努力还将发展一支高素质、多样化的劳动力队伍，以非传统教育项目的往绩为基础，在加州州立大学校园为历史上代表性不足的群体创造机会，并与大气化学、遥感和地球科学领域的行业、初创企业和非学术利益相关者合作，建立专业发展规划。这个多学科加速器团队将开发、测试、优化和组合基于晶体管的便携式生物传感器和量子增强型传感器，以实现对生物气溶胶的高灵敏度、高速、远程、多路、多模和现场测量，包括识别微生物物种。该团队通过设计原型将传感器开发者和传感器终端用户结合在一起，以解决现实世界化学传感中的一个紧迫挑战：生物气溶胶。在第一阶段，该计划将展示一套传感器的原型：(1)便携式电子直接检测传感器，能够根据生物气溶胶中多种微生物的遗传特征，以1000个拷贝数或更低的检测下限来量化它们的存在；(2)基于分子离子量子逻辑光谱的集成太赫兹传感器，可以在野外对生物气溶胶进行现场检测和识别；(3)使用芯片上频率梳的双梳光谱仪，用于野外生物气溶胶识别。这些传感器将得到锁频光学耳语消逝谐振器(FLOW)平台以及高光谱分解和传感器数据融合技术的支持。在第二阶段，该计划将与行业和非营利性利益相关者合作，将这些传感器商业化并在该领域部署。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Bioaerosols encompass diverse classes of airborne particles that contain materials of biological origin including bacteria, viruses, pollen, archaea, fungi, and their fragments and byproducts. Bioaerosols directly impact short-term and long-term human, animal, plant, and climate health, viability, and associated economies of scale. Despite their importance, estimates of global mass emissions of bioaerosols have uncertainties of 1-2 orders of magnitude and identifying specific species and their origins in bioaerosols remains difficult. This project involves the development of a convergent, real-world chemical sensing approach to advance understanding of the origins and temporal evolution of bioaerosols, and guide their mitigation, when needed. This project will advance the technology readiness level of sensor technologies targeting bioaerosols and deliver prototypes of a suite of sensors essential for bioaerosol identification. By developing multimodal, field-deployable bioaerosol sensors, this research holds the potential to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, allergens, and antibiotic-resistant genes and organisms. The team will leverage joint projects with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, federally funded research and development centers, including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the National Insitute of Standards and Technology, and include strategic translation partners in the US private sector in space, aerospace, and remote sensing. This effort also will develop a highly qualified, diverse workforce, building on a track-record of non-traditional education programs, creating opportunities for historically underrepresented groups at Cal State campuses, and establishing professional development programming in collaboration with industry, startups, and non-academic stakeholders in atmospheric chemistry, remote sensing and geosciences.This multidisciplinary Accelerator team will develop, test, optimize, and combine transistor-based portable biosensors and quantum-enhanced sensors to achieve highly sensitive, high-speed, remote, multiplexed, multimodal, and in situ measurements of bioaerosols, including identifying microorganism species. The team brings together the sensor developers with the sensor end users via engineered prototypes to address a pressing challenge in real-world chemical sensing: bioaerosols. In Phase I, this program will demonstrate a prototype of a suite of sensors: (1) a portable electronic direct-detection sensor capable of quantifying the presence of multiple microorganisms in bioaerosols based on their genetic signatures with a 1000-copy-number or lower limit of detection, (2) an integrated terahertz sensor based on quantum-logic spectroscopy of molecular ions that can perform in-situ detection and identification of bioaerosols in the field, and (3) a dual-comb spectrometer using on-chip frequency combs for bioaerosol identification in the field. These sensors will be supported by the development of a frequency-locked optical whispering evanescent resonator (FLOWER) platform and hyperspectral unmixing and sensor data fusion techniques. In Phase II, this program will partner with industry and non-profit stakeholders to commercialize and deploy these sensors in the field.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.