Using Metallic Nanostructures to Develop Biomedical Devices for Newborn Screening

新生儿筛查（NSB）是一种预防措施，旨在诊断遗传、代谢、酶或激素疾病，最好是在孩子出生后的第三天和第五天之间。自60年代以来，NSB的实施挽救了数千人的生命，这一程序现在在北美大部分地区都是例行程序。然而，全世界三分之二的新生儿没有被送到任何类型的NSB。在低资源环境下实施国家抽样调查的主要限制因素涉及到处理临床样本（通常是通过足跟采血法获得的血液样本）的基本基础设施的使用。这项国际合作计划探索独特的技术路线，开发一套新的纳米结构材料用于生物传感应用。其目标是利用材料的特殊光学性质组装微型生物传感器，以在低资源环境中进行快速检测。目标是获得能够在生物流体中执行特定测量的便携式装置或生物传感器，并且能够真实的实时地估计对NSB重要的疾病的状态，例如苯丙酮尿症、囊性纤维化和G6 PD缺乏症。这些设备将与市售测试进行比较，如果它们达到适当的特异性和灵敏度值，我们将在巴西的合作者用真实的新生儿样本进行评估。本提案的成功将提供一套新的材料和工具，增加国家统计局在资源匮乏地区（加拿大和发展中国家的农村/偏远地区）的利用机会。

Newborn screening (NSB) is a preventative action aiming to diagnose genetic, metabolic, enzymatic, or hormonal diseases, preferably between the third and fifth day of life of the child. The implementation of NSB since the 60's has saved thousands of lives and this procedure is now routine in most of North America. However, 2/3 of the newborns worldwide are not submitted to any type of NSB. The main limitation for the implementation of NSB in low resources settings is related to the access of basic infrastructure for the processing of clinical samples (typically, blood samples obtained through the heel-prick method). This international collaboration proposes to explore distinct technical routes to develop a new set of nanostructured materials for biosensing applications. The goal is to take advantage of the specific optical properties of the materials to assemble miniaturized biosensors for rapid tests in low resources environment. The goal is to obtain portable devices or biosensors capable of performing specific measurements in biological fluids and to estimate the status of diseases that are important for NSB, such as phenylketonuria, cystic fibrosis, and G6PD deficiency, in real time. The devices will be compared to commercially available tests and, if they reach appropriate values of specificity and sensitivity, they will be evaluated with real newborn samples by our collaborators in Brazil. The success of the present proposal will provide a new set of materials and tools that will increase the access of NSB in areas of low resources (rural/isolated areas in Canada and developing Countries).