Fully-printed electronic biosensors for the assessment of severe acute malnutrition

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is a significant health problem, particularly in limited resource settings, that greatly affects children and contributes to approximately 2.2 million deaths annualy. A major obstacle in the management of SAM is that its diagnostic criteria relies heaviy on anthropometric criteria, which have limited sensitivity, specificity, and prognostic value. Recently, serum levels of leptin and interleukin-6 (IL6) have been identified as predictive biomarkers of mortality and complications due to SAM. While this advance is significant, quantification of leptin and IL6 is typically performed in a centralized laboratory setting, which limits their usefulness for on-site clinical decision-making in limited resource settings. The objective of this F31 proposal is to develop a low-cost, miniature-footprint point-of-care-test that can quantify these biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity and with minimal user intervention. The device platform will be a fully-printed immunoassay on a non-fouling polymer brush layer which uses a carbon nanotube transistor for bioelectrical signal transduction. The fully-printed nature of the device allows a highly adaptable design, and readout by direct electrical transduction eliminates washing steps and complex optical components. Furthermore, the polymer brush interfacial layer eliminates non-specific binding, leading to excellent signal-to-noise ratios even when directly interrogating complex bioliogical milieu (i.e. whole blood or serum). If successful, this assay platform will have substantial impact by providing a sustainable strategy for quantitative diagnostic assessment of SAM at point-of-care in limited resource settings. Beyond SAM, the overall impact of this work is broad, as the transduction and sensing mechanisms can be easily adapted to any disease biomarker for which immunoassay reagents are available.