BIOFABRICATED NANOCONFINED MATERIALS AND DEVICES FOR BIO-RECOGNITION AND SENSING
Abstract
Nanostructured material and device environments are essential to the emerging generation of sensors. On one hand, nanoconfinement eliminates diffusional transport limitations, so that the detection signal is solely governed by the highly specific biochemical recognition interactions of receptors with target biomarkers. On the other hand, novel phenomena that emerge at the nanoscale can lead to enhanced sensitivity for label-free detection based on plasmonics and redox amplification. However, for optimal utilization of these novel configurations, there is a need to integrate fluidic access, biofunctionality and porosity to the nanostructures, for recognizing and transducing selective interactions with key biomarkers. This is especially challenging for small molecule targets, wherein receptor selection and signal transduction of the binding event are not easily accomplished by current methods. We seek to develop a class of such biofabricated device platforms that can be utilized for the discovery of receptors and transduction in sensor paradigms for small molecules, proteins and for assessing bacterial constructs in synthetic biology. For this purpose, we will develop configurations for on-demand localized nanoconfinement, molecular imprinting of porous nanostructures, and biomaterial capacitors on nanoporous gold for redox amplification. In this manner, through integration of biofabricated moieties within nanoconfined fluidic platforms, active microfluidic transport in the absence of diffusional limitations will be used for highly parallelized selection, screening and validation of synthetic receptors based on chemical binding affinities to biomarker targets.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 17, 2022
- Source ID
- FA23862114070
Entities
People
- Nathan S. Swami
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Virginia