An Early-warning Surveillance System for Airborne COVID-19 Viruses

新冠肺炎是一种传染病。从新冠肺炎患者体内释放的空气传播病毒是导致疾病迅速传播的原因。我们可能不得不与新冠肺炎一起生活几个月才能找到有效的疫苗。在最糟糕的情况下，可能永远找不到安全有效的疫苗，我们必须与病毒共存(就像艾滋病-艾滋病毒病毒一样)。因此，及早在公共场所(如学校、购物中心、体育场馆等)发现空气传播的新冠肺炎病毒。对于防止新冠肺炎传播至关重要。技术挑战是开发一种可以轻松部署在现场的便携式设备，以检测并量化空气中微量的新冠肺炎病毒。在过去的7年里，我们成功地设计了一种芯片上实验室(LOC)监测生物传感器，用于监测可能影响油菜籽和小麦的空气中的孢子。感应物联网(IoT)设备通过自组织传感网络连接起来，以便及早向农民发出警告。在这笔NSERC拨款中，我们将扩展我们的设计，将抗新冠肺炎的单抗作为探针，有选择地捕获新冠肺炎病毒，并通过集成的库尔特计数器设备感知它们的存在。其目标是将传感器表面上的新冠肺炎病毒数量与对抗系统的阻抗测量直接且明确地关联起来。拟议中的预警技术对加拿大人和加拿大经济至关重要。这项技术可以帮助像Hidaca Ltd.这样的加拿大小企业开发新产品。这项研究还将使艾伯塔大学成为推动医疗保健生物技术领域新机遇和新应用的领先机构。

COVID-19 is an infectious disease. Airborne viruses released from COVID-19 patients are responsible for the rapid spread of the disease. We might have to live with COVID-19 for months before we can find an effective vaccine. In the worst scenario, a safe and effective vaccine may never be found and we must live with the virus (like the AIDS-HIV virus). Therefore, early detection of the presence of the airborne COVID-19 virus in public places (e.g., schools, shopping centers, stadiums, etc.) is critical for preventing COVID-19 spreading. The technical challenge is to develop a portable device that can be easily deployed onsite to detect and quantify a minuscule quantity of COVID-19 virus in the air. Over the past 7 years, we have successfully designed a lab-on-chip (LOC) surveillance biosensor to monitor airborne spores that can impact canola and wheat. The sensing Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices are linked via ad-hoc sensing networks to warn farmers early. In this NSERC grant, we will extend our design by incorporating anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies as probes to selectively capture the COVID-19 viruses and sense their presence with an integrated Coulter counter device. The goal is to directly and unambiguously correlate the number of COVID-19 viruses on the sensor surface with the impedance measurements of the countering system. The proposed early-warning technology is crucial for Canadians and the Canadian economy. This technology can help small Canadian enterprises, like Hidaca Ltd., to develop new products. This research will also position the University of Alberta as a leading institute in advancing new opportunities and applications in healthcare biotechnologies.