Molecular Analysis of Surface Functionalization of Nanomaterials

在英国，每年有超过80万人因疑似流感感染而去看他们的全科医生，有2 -3万人住院。医院每天都面临着入院患者（2017年剑桥阿登布鲁克医院急诊室有10万名患者）导致医院流感爆发的风险。事实上，去年在阿登布鲁克医院确诊的流感病例超过700例，并且由于流感爆发关闭了三个病房。为防止疫情爆发，在开始抗病毒治疗之前必须对患者进行流感检测。不幸的是，这种检测过程可能需要几个小时，导致诊断和治疗延迟。目前在医院检测流感的既定和可信的“金标准”方法可能需要长达12个小时。延误半天对患者和医院来说代价高昂：患者必须等待更长的时间才能到正确的科室就诊，病房里挤满了等待检测结果的患者，由于潜在的病毒携带者等待结果，病毒爆发的风险也增加了。临床医生表示有必要进行流感快速检测，这些检测可由未经医学培训的人员在急诊室进行。已经尝试了一些现有的快速诊断测试（RDTs）。大多数人的灵敏度都不够，因此经常导致假阴性。目前迫切需要一种可在医院急诊室使用的新型流感病毒快速诊断检测方法。在hexonfab，一种生物传感器已经由新型纳米材料开发和制造出来，它将把实验室测试的灵敏度带到急诊室。该技术通过纳米材料的独特表面获得了出色的灵敏度，纳米材料是传感的核心元件。为了优化传感器，有必要深入了解纳米材料如何与环境相互作用，以及如何使其更加敏感和特异。InnovateUK A4I项目带来了英国领先研究组织的独特专业知识，研究纳米材料的表面，以及如何优化传感器，以实现当前基于实验室的测试的灵敏度，同时允许在急诊室的病人使用。

Each year more than 800'000 people in the UK see their GP for suspected influenza infection and 20-30'000 hospital people are admitted to hospitals. Hospitals face the daily risk that incoming patients (100,000 in the Emergency Room 2017 in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge) will lead to Influenza outbreaks in the hospital. Indeed, there were more 700 confirmed influenza cases last year at Addenbrooke's hospital, and three ward closures due to Influenza outbreaks.To prevent outbreaks, patients must be tested for influenza before antiviral treatment is initiated. Unfortunately, this testing process can take several hours, resulting in delayed diagnosis and treatment. The current established and trusted "gold standard" method of testing for influenza in hospitals can take up to 12 hours. A delay of half a day is highly costly to the patient and hospital: patients must wait longer to be seen by the correct department, wards become congested with patients waiting for test results and the risk of viral outbreaks increases as potential carriers of the virus wait for results. Clinicians have expressed a need for rapid detection influenza tests that can be carried out by non-medically trained personal in the Emergency Room. A selection of currently existing rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) has been tried. The sensitivity of most have been shown to be insufficient, thus often resulting in false negatives.There is an urgent need for a novel rapid diagnostic test for influenza virus that can be used in hospital emergency rooms. At HexagonFab, a biosensor has been developed and built from novel nanomaterials, which will bring the sensitivity of laboratory based tests to the emergency room. The technology gains its outstanding sensitivity through the unique surface of the nanomaterial, which is the core sensing element. In order to optimise the sensor, it is necessary to gain a deep understanding of how the nanomaterial interacts with its environment and how it can be tailored to be even more sensitive and specific. The InnovateUK A4I project brings the unique expertise of leading research organisations in the UK to investigate the surface of the nanomaterial and how the sensor can be optimised to achieve the sensitivity of current laboratory-based tests, while allowing use at the patient in the emergency room.