Portable Device for Ultrasensitive Determination of Heavy Metals in Whole Blood
Abstract
This project will address the Fiscal Year 2018 Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program Topic Area of Metal Toxicology. The goal of the planned research is to develop a portable diagnostic device for rapid (~ 5 minute) measurement of the concentration of multiple heavy metals in a finger-prick amount of whole blood with ultra-high sensitivity. Heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, and uranium are highly toxic, even at low level exposure. High-risk groups, including military Service members and others exposed to these heavy metals at low levels, may suffer adverse physical effects, e.g., kidney damage and sleep disorder, and mental (neurocognitive, emotional, and behavioral) health function. In addition, the heavy metal exposure can affect the military Service members’ high-demand task performance and decision making. Early screening of blood heavy metal levels allows immediate intervention to alleviate adverse health effects, which strongly benefits individuals’ quality of life and helps reduce societal burden. But commercially available portable blood heavy metal level analytical methods with adequate efficiency in size, cost, and time suffer low sensitivity, making them suitable only for simple pre-screening purposes. The device to be developed aims to provide an efficient pathway for point-of-care assessment of blood heavy metal level with high accuracy. The device will be enabled by a disposable sensing array of aptamer-functionalized microelectrodes of graphene, a rising carbon-based two-dimensional material with unique transduction properties. With an innovative reference-free sensor structure that substantially enhances its analytical accuracy, the planned device will feature unprecedented sensitivity, e.g., ~ 0.1 ng/mL for determination of blood lead level, 300× more sensitive than state-of-the-art portable devices such as LeadCare. The device will be extremely efficient in terms of size (handheld), power (powered by four AAA batteries for months of use), cost (< $5/test, < $100/setup), time (< 5 minutes/test), and sample-consumption (< 20 microliters), and multiplexed capacity to allow two heavy metals to be tested simultaneously. The device prototype will be used to test levels of lead and mercury with ultra-high sensitivity in whole blood samples from > 100 individuals. The device also holds great potential to be developed to detect other military-induced heavy metals such as depleted uranium and tungsten-alloy that are posing emerging threats of exposure to military Service members. The study will result in the first graphene-enabled portable analytical device for determination of blood heavy metal level with ultra-high sensitivity, along with strict analytical and preclinical validations. The device will set a new standard in point-of-care assessment of low-level heavy metal exposure, and in turn will enable large-scale early screening and diagnosis of heavy metal exposure or poisoning, and promote investigations on adverse health outcomes such as sleep disorder induced by heavy metal exposure. Our strong complementary and interdisciplinary team consists of members with expertise key aspects of the project including development and prototyping of graphene-based devices, microfluidics, and heavy metal exposure and assessment, which ensures the feasibility and success of this project.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 16, 2019
- Source ID
- W81XWH1910006
Entities
People
- Jinglei Ping
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Massachusetts Amherst