Molecular Analysis of Surface Functionalization of Nanomaterials

流感负担每年英国有超过80万人因疑似流感感染而去看他们的全科医生，2万至3万人入院治疗。医院每天都面临着入院患者（剑桥2017/2018年Addenbrooke医院急诊室每年有110，000名患者）导致医院流感爆发的风险。事实上，去年英国有2200多起确诊的流感疫情发生在医院、养老院和学校。为了防止疫情爆发，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，这个测试过程可能需要几个小时，导致延误诊断和治疗。目前在医院建立和信任的流感检测“金标准”方法可能需要长达12小时。半天的延迟对患者和医院来说都是非常昂贵的：患者必须等待更长的时间才能被正确的部门看到，病房因等待检测结果的患者而变得拥挤，并且由于潜在的病毒携带者等待结果，病毒爆发的风险增加。临床医生表示需要快速流感检测测试，可以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）。大多数的灵敏度已被证明是不够的，因此往往导致假阴性。目前迫切需要一种新型的流感病毒快速诊断检测方法，可以在医院急诊室使用。可以做什么在HellonFab，一种生物传感器已经开发出来，并由新型纳米材料制成，这将使基于实验室的检测灵敏度达到急诊室。该技术通过纳米材料的独特表面获得了出色的灵敏度，这是核心传感元件。为了改进传感器，有必要详细研究纳米材料如何与其环境相互作用，以及如何将其定制为更加灵敏和特异。这个持续的InnovateUK A4 I项目带来了英国领先的研究机构之一NPL的独特专业知识，以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患者中使用。

The influenza burdenEach year more than 800'000 people in the UK see their GP for suspected influenza infection and 20'000-30'000 people are admitted to hospitals. Hospitals face the daily risk that incoming patients (110,000 annually in the Emergency Room in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge 2017/2018) will lead to Influenza outbreaks in the hospital. Indeed, there were more 2200 confirmed influenza outbreaks in the UK last year in hospitals, care homes, and schools.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 influenza detection tests that can be carried out by non-medically trained personnell 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.What can be doneAt 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 improve the sensor, it is necessary to investigate in detail how the nanomaterial interacts with its environment and how it can be tailored to be even more sensitive and specific. This continued InnovateUK A4I project brings the unique expertise of NPL, one of the leading research organisations of 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.