An investigation into the feasibility of fabrication of inkjet SERS sensors to detect bacteria in sputum samples for the early detection of excerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）是一种流行的肺部疾病（在英国有300万人），在发病率（每年25，000人死亡）和医疗保健费用（40亿英镑）方面占英国的主要负担。COPD被急性加重打断，急性加重是与全身和气道炎症相关的呼吸道症状增加的发作。然而，大多数急性加重是由病毒或细菌感染引发的，可以确认致病性气道细菌存在的诊断测试将有助于指导医生开具适当的药物。在本项目中，我们将研究使用基于纳米材料的印刷Sers传感器阵列检测痰液样本中的细菌以预测急性加重发作的可行性。我们将使用Sers的基础上，其检测到的光谱指纹的细菌的识别和歧视。

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a prevalent lung disease (3 Million in UK) that accounts for a major burden in the UK in terms of morbidity (25,000 deaths a year) and health care costs (£4bn). COPD is punctuated by exacerbations which are episodes of increased respiratory symptoms associated with systemic and airway inflammation. Most exacerbations however are either triggered by viral or bacterial infection, a diagnostic test which could confirm the presence of of pathogenic airway bacteria would be useful in helping guide physicians in prescribing appropriate medication. In this project we will investigate the viability of using a nanomaterial based printed SERS sensor array to detect bacteria in sputum samples to predict the onset of exacerbations. We will use SERS for identification and discrimination of bacteria based on their detected spectral fingerprints.