Development of nanomagnetic sensor array for High Throughput Screening(RMI)

由磁数据存储行业的需求驱动的纳米磁传感器技术的巨大进步已经导致磁盘驱动器读取头以大约每千字节500（80亿特征）的批发成本寻址50-100 nm宽的特征。这种磁记录技术的延伸可以作为低成本的极其强大的生物传感器的基础，同时打开了生物纳米磁学的广阔和有前途的领域。 在拟议的工作中的目标是建立一个强大的纳米磁性传感器阵列，能够感测亚50 nm的磁性标签，并证明其应用于高通量生物分子识别和生物传感。该设备对低丰度mRNA或蛋白质的灵敏度预计将前所未有地高，可能在单分子水平上。基于仅一个或几个探针和靶分子的测量的能力将通过抑制由多重相互作用产生的亲合力效应来提高数据的质量，并且可以揭示通过质量平均测量检测不到的靶群体中的真正的单分子异质性。这项研究的基本原理是，这种纳米磁传感器阵列可以基于快速发展的磁盘数据存储技术，并且可以相对容易地集成到具有极高密度的单独可寻址传感器（在每平方毫米1亿个传感器的范围内）的实际HTS传感器阵列中。 该研究团队特别准备好利用磁数据存储和阅读技术的最新进展，基因组学和蛋白质组学的爆炸性增长以及休斯顿大学独特的纳米制造能力的协同作用。Dmitri Litvinov（PI）已成功地在商用磁性数据存储系统中实现了许多纳米磁性概念，其中许多可直接应用于本项目（希捷技术公司已颁发的16项专利）。Richard Wilson（合作研究员）为该项目带来了他在基于DMA探针和抗体亲和力的生物检测和分子识别方面的丰富经验。Jack Wolfe（合作研究员）是超小型器件结构制造领域的世界领导者，在集成电路制造方面拥有丰富的经验。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dramatic advancements in nanomagnetic sensor technology, driven by the needs of the magnetic data storage industry, have led to disk drive read heads addressing features 50-100 nm across, at a wholesale cost of about 500 per Gigabyte (8 billion features). An extension of this magnetic recording technology can be used as the basis of extremely powerful biosensors at low cost, while opening the broad and promising field of bio-nanomagnetics. The objective in the proposed work is to build a robust nanomagnetic sensor array capable of sensing sub-50nm magnetic labels and to demonstrate its application to high throughput biomolecular recognition and bio-sensing. The sensitivity of the device to low-abundance mRNAs or proteins is expected to be unprecedentedly high, potentially at the single-molecule level. The ability to base measurements on only one or a few probe and target molecules will improve the quality of the data by suppressing avidity effects arising from multiple interactions, and can reveal genuine single-molecule heterogeneity in target populations not detectable by mass-averaged measurements. The rationale for this research is that such a nanomagnetic sensor array can be based on rapidly-advancing magnetic disk data storage technology, and can be relatively easily integrated into a practical HTS sensor array with extremely high densities of individually-addressable sensors (in the range of 100 million sensors per square millimeter). The research team is especially well-prepared to capitalize on the synergy of recent advances in magnetic data storage and reading technology, the explosive growth in genomics and proteomics, and unique nanofabrication capabilities at the University of Houston. Dmitri Litvinov (PI) has successfully implemented a number of nanomagnetic concepts in commercial magnetic data storage systems, many of which are directly applicable to this project (16 issued patents with Seagate Technology). Richard Wilson (co-investigator) brings to the project his extensive experience in bio-detection and molecular recognition based on DMA probes and antibody affinity. Jack Wolfe (co-investigator) is the world leader in fabrication of ultra-small device structures, with extensive experience in integrated circuit fabrication.