I-Corps: A Low-Cost, Rapid, Sensitive, PCR-Free Pathogen Diagnostics Platform

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

Portable and multi-target DNA/RNA diagnostics requires a rapid, field-usable, simple to operate, regenerable and economical biosensor system. The nanomembrane technology presented here is based upon the integration of newly discovered electrokinetic phenomena in nanoporous membranes that promise to extend traditional label-free electrochemical and capacitance/conductance biosensors to the requisite robustness, sensitivity, selectivity and assay speed for on-field nucleic acid detection. The proposed work will optimize and integrate these new physical phenomena into an automated membrane sensing platform for hand-held DNA/RNA devices suitable for field applications by scientifically scrutinizing the detailed non-equilibrium electrokinetic phenomena and by exploiting the latest nano/microfabrication technologies. The proposed work will heavily involve development of miniature prototypes that can have a significant impact on biological research and, more commercially, the biotechnology industry sector. A viable portable and label-free DNA/RNA detection platform for bacterial detection has the potential to spur a technological advance in the biosensor industry, as it could transform pathogen detection methodology for medical, environmental, and agricultural applications by eliminating the time-consuming nucleic acid amplification step and the costly/bulky/personnel-intensive optical detectors of fluorescent sensing. The project can hence impact both nanoscience and nano biotechnology. The flexibility of the platform to test various pathogenic targets related to health and environmental safety could vastly increase the target portfolio and widen the impact of the technology.