RII Track-2 FEC: Advancing Manufacturing and Biotechnology through an On-Demand Sensor Platform: Investments in the Development of Engineering Principles and the Future Workforce

University Of New Hampshire, Durham NH

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research represents a comprehensive advancement in biosensor design, biotechnology, and engineering and prepares AL, ME, NH, and WY to take full advantage of the anticipated growth of Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing industries. Today, biomanufacturing industries are limited by a lack of effective tools for monitoring key proteins which provide information on product quality in real time. Current protein sensors are limited to spectroscopic measurements (which are non-specific and require expensive equipment) or off-line, laboratory-based approaches. To address the need for on-demand biosensors to continuously monitor proteins in biomanufacturing processes, we have assembled a geographically diverse team from the University of New Hampshire, Auburn University, the University of New England, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Maine. This research will be coupled with a multi-tiered workforce development plan integrated throughout the project that includes training for a new biotechnology workforce in AL, ME, NH, and WY. The workforce development includes individual components for early-career faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, K-12 students, and the broader communities in the jurisdictions, all tied together through an annual academic-industry symposium. The proposed research represents a comprehensive advancement in biosensor design, biotechnology, and engineering and prepares AL, ME, NH, and WY to take full advantage of the anticipated growth of Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing industries. Today, biomanufacturing industries are limited by a lack of effective tools for monitoring key proteins which provide information on product quality in real time. The project will develop engineering principles to guide on-demand biosensor design towards Industry 4.0 applications. Four distinct yet collaborative research projects will produce a full assortment of sensor components to achieve the continuous, in-line process monitoring that is essential for economically viable quality-by-design biomanufacturing. Project 1 focuses on the development and validation of computational methods to design protein recognition elements (REs) with targeted hotspot interactions. Project 2 will produce engineering principles for creating analyte-responsive polymers that amplify the signal of analyte binding to REs at process conditions. Project 3 will develop innovative Scanning ElectroChemical Cell Microscopy techniques to reproducibly nanopattern surfaces to control sensor form factors and array construction. Finally, Project 4 will measure the electrochemical transduction of surface events of analyte-responsive polymers and test designed sensors for measuring IL-6 and insulin in-line and continuously. Combined, the four projects will be integrated into a single sensor device capable of measuring changes in protein levels, specifically IL-6 and insulin, continuously and in real time for industrial applications. This research represents a close collaboration with researchers from a geographically diverse team from the University of New Hampshire, Auburn University, the University of New England, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Maine, and will be coupled with a multi-tiered workforce development plan integrated throughout the project that includes training for a new biotechnology workforce in AL, ME, NH, and WY. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.