A Rapid Label-free Sensor for Immune Markers of Environmental Exposure

描述(由申请人提供) 来自各种自然来源(火山活动、森林火灾)的空气颗粒物(PM)无处不在。然而，自工业革命和内燃机问世以来，人类活动大大增加了PM的浓度，特别是在城市地区。人源性PM往往体积较小，便于通过呼吸道和消化道以及通过皮肤进入人体。它也往往具有比天然化合物更大的毒性的吸附化学物种。纳米技术在研究和消费产品(防晒霜、化妆品、油漆)领域的爆炸性增长，也创造了一系列对健康有很大影响的超细材料。尽管大量研究表明PM与多种疾病有关，包括急性呼吸道感染、肺癌以及慢性呼吸系统和心血管疾病，但其具体的生物学机制尚不完全清楚。Pathologics寻求利用其专有的阵列成像反射计量仪(AIR)生物传感平台来构建一种设备，通过在方便获得的生物样本(如手指挑取血液、尿液、粘液、唾液等)中分析关键标记蛋白来捕获PM暴露的详细生理反应。目前，此类测试需要数小时，通常通过单独测试完成。AIR能够用目前笔记本电脑大小的设备同时灵敏地检测蛋白质。测试平台的低复杂性还将使手持设备的开发成为可能，这将对现场的曝光反应情况分析特别有用。除了节省时间和提供更大的便利外，这些多路传感器还将允许收集比目前可行的更多的分子数据。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Airborne particulate matter (PM) derived from a variety of natural sources (volcanic activity, forest fires) is omnipresent. However, human activity since the industrial revolution and the advent of the internal combustion engine has substantially increased the concentration of PM, particularly in urban areas. Human derived PM tends to be of smaller size, facilitating entry into the body through the respiratory and digestive tracts, as well as through the skin. It also tends to have adsorbed chemical species with greater toxicity than its natural counterparts. The explosive growth of nanotechnology in research and consumer products (sunscreens, cosmetics, paint) is also creating an array of ultrafine materials with largely unknown health effects. Despite numerous studies implicating PM in various disorders including acute respiratory infections, lung cancer, and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, the specific biological mechanisms involved are not fully understood. Pathologics seeks to leverage its proprietary Arrayed Imaging Reflectometery (AIR) biosensing platform to build a device capable of capturing the detailed physiological response to PM exposure by profiling key marker proteins in conveniently available biosamples such as a finger pick of blood, urine, mucous, saliva, etc. Currently, such testing takes hours and is often done with individual tests. AIR is capable of sensitive and simultaneous protein detection with a device that is currently the size of a laptop computer. The low complexity of the testing platform will also enable the development of handheld units that would be particularly useful for profiling exposure response in the field. In addition to saving time and offering greater convenience these multiplex sensors will allow far more molecular data to be collected than is currently feasible.