Aptasensor Construction for Detection of Biological Contaminants**

Vital Biosciences（前身为Elucid Labs）是一家位于安大略滑铁卢的加拿大生物技术公司，开发用于检测生物液体中生物标志物的即时生物传感器平台，以克服普遍采用的分析方法的局限性，并改善医疗数据采集，传输时间以及整体患者体验。 在这个NSERC Engage应用程序中，Vital与圭尔夫大学（UOG）的Manderville博士实验室合作，将通过使用固定化策略和先进的纳米科学来构建通用适配器平台，奋进将DNA适体纳入现有的基于抗体的检测设计中。该项目将专注于将适体固定到纳米颗粒上，以实现目标分子的原位过滤和浓缩，等离子体信号增强策略，无标记目标采集和测定小型化。靶分子的结合必须伴随着在相关浓度下台式装置上的可检测信号变化，并且必须使用非常少量（uL）的样品来证明项目成功。该ENGAGE项目有两个主要研究目标：（1）确定适体是否可以纳入Vital目前开发的技术中，以及（2）采用适体传感器的测定组分和功能化技术，将其应用于复杂基质，并可能开发新的测定系统。 为了实现这些目标，已经为凝血酶（模型蛋白质靶标）和赭曲霉毒素A（OTA，模型小分子靶标）建立的适体将用用于纳米材料附着的连接组分和作为靶标结合的光学读出的荧光染料进行修饰。 该系统的成功开发将使重要的商业组合不断多样化，这反过来又将导致新的收入来源和公司在西南安大略的增长。

Vital Biosciences (formerly Elucid Labs) is a Canadian biotechnology company located in Waterloo, Ontario, that develops point-of-care biosensor platforms for detection of biomarkers in biological fluids to overcome limitations in ubiquitously employed analytical methods and improve medical data acquisition, transmission time, as well as the overall patient experience. In this NSERC Engage application, Vital, with the cooperation of Dr. Manderville's laboratory at the University of Guelph (UOG), will endeavor to incorporate DNA aptamers into an existing antibody-based assay design by using immobilization strategies and advanced nanoscience to construct a general aptasensor platform. This project will focus on aptamer immobilization onto nanoparticles to enable in situ filtration and concentration of target molecules, plasmonic signal enhancement strategies, label free target acquisition and assay miniaturization. The binding of target molecules must be accompanied by a detectable signal change on a benchtop device at relevant concentrations, and must work with a very small (uL) amount of sample to demonstrate project success. This ENGAGE project has two major research objectives: (1) establish if aptamers can be incorporated in Vital's currently developed technology, and (2) employ assay components and functionalization techniques on aptasensors to expand their utility into complex matrices and potentially develop novel assay systems. To accomplish these goals, aptamers already established for thrombin (model protein target) and ochratoxin A (OTA, model small molecule target) will be modified with linking components for nanomaterial attachment and fluorescent dyes as the optical readout for target binding. Successful development of this system will cause continual diversification of the Vital commercial portfolio which, in turn, will lead to new revenue streams and company growth within South Western Ontario.