Micromachined Biosensor for Mycobacterial Pathogens

描述(申请人提供)：分枝杆菌细长，不活动， 革兰氏阳性杆菌，不产生孢子或荚膜。十九 分枝杆菌与人类的疾病有关。最危险的 这些疾病中有肺结核，是由结核分枝杆菌感染引起的。 结核病每年导致约200万人死亡，另有800万人感染 每年有几百万人。该病的治疗和诊断很复杂。 根据目前的实验室方法，可能需要4到6周的时间才能确定 对感染的确凿证据。需要新的诊断系统 及早发现结核病，以便更好地监测治疗情况 结核病，并研究该疾病的流行病学。露娜的创新 已经召集了一组研究人员来开发微机械生物传感器阵列 它结合了硅微加工、光纤传感器、 以及用于分枝杆菌病原体检测的生物化学。感官 生物传感器阵列的元件将是涂覆在其上的微悬臂梁 站在感受器一边。当病原体结合到涂层光束上时，一种生化 感应表面应力使梁按比例偏转 集中精神。第一阶段计划将专注于开发微悬臂梁 生物传感器阵列，展示在NEAT中检测到分枝杆菌病原体 解决方案，并将性能与已知标准进行比较。

DESCRIPTION (Provided by applicant): Mycobacteria are slender, nonmotile, gram-positive rods and do not produce spores or capsules. Nineteen Mycobacterium species are associated with disease in humans. The most dangerous of these diseases is tuberculosis, caused by infection with M. tuberculosis. Tuberculosis kills about 2 million people annually and infects another 8 million people each year. Treatment and diagnosis of the disease is complicated by current laboratory methods that can take from four to six weeks to establish a definitive identification of infection. New diagnostic systems are needed for earlier detection of tuberculosis, to better monitor the treatment of tuberculosis, and to study the epidemiology of the disease. Luna Innovations has assembled a team of researchers to develop a micromachined biosensor array that combines technology from silicon micromachining, optical fiber sensors, and biochemistry for measurement of mycobacterial pathogens. The sensing element of the biosensor array will be a microcantilever beam coated on one side with receptors. As pathogens bind to the coated beam, a biochemical induced surface stress causes the beam to deflect proportionally to concentration. The Phase I program will focus on developing the microcantilever biosensor array, demonstrating detection of mycobacterial pathogens in neat solutions, and comparing performance to known standards.