Biophotonic devices for sample-to-answer biomarker analysis

University Of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal will devise an optofluidic versatile system that will allow pre-analysis manipulation of the sample for removing components that might interfere with the analysis. Using nucleic acids of the target analyte along and with antibodies to detect the presence of a variety of infection-causing viruses in the presence other viruses. The device will be engineered on chips with little a-priori information on the content of the target sample. This is the sample-to-answer system where the developed chip would be available for a variety of yet underdetermined diagnostic tasks. This goal is a quantum leap from the current target-dedicated diagnostics on a chip to the all-purpose diagnostic chip with as broad an application as possible without sacrificing capabilities of sensitivity, selectivity, ease of use and cost. The specific objectives are to develop a multi-wavelength waveguide that will provide a multi-source for excitation of biomarkers. A second objective is to develop a sample preparation section on the chip. The final effort in this work will demonstrate the high sensitivity and selectivity of the approach by detecting the Zika virus using both, nucleic acid and biomarkers for the virus in the presence other viruses. The present proposal evolves from a long standing collaboration between the present PI, a physicist in Electrical Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, and a the Hawkins group at BYU. The previous achievements of the collaboration are detailed in the proposal and has enjoyed broad recognition within the community and beyond.