Toward Smart Assay and Diagnostics Development Flow
: Receptor-Free Rapid Detection of Biomarkers to Accelerate Development Time
There has been a strong drive to find next-generation biochemical markers sensing technology for faster and simpler diagnostics, which can directly detect target molecules in on-site samples without complicated sample preparation steps. Even though traditional analytical biochemistry including mass spectroscopy, chromatography, immunoassay, or nucleic acid test based diagnostics have a lot of advantages, we could not accelerate development time due to the complicated development and production process and their non-versatility. To develop better diagnostic approaches for various diseases and future global pandemics, we are developing a rapid and label-free sensor system based on a unique molecular recognition technique. We design tailored 3D interfaces of the fluorescent nanotransducer and fabricate the preemptive sensor library for target biochemical markers.
We are interested in the development timeline and workflow necessary to generate a sensor for biomarker detection, starting from the identification of the new target itself to deployable hardware ready for a screening of the population. If new target molecules begins to circulate, this workflow can generate a 3D nanointerface library and synthesize recognition candidates within a few days. Computational analysis can be used to predict selectivity and sensitivity performance in advance of experimental validation. Then, the optimized nanosensor with selective recognition for the unknown biomolecular target can be interfaced directly to the existing on-site platform. Based on the sensing and diagnosis data, we are constructing the database of sensor libraries onto a variety of viruses or disease markers. In this way, the workflow allows for a potential feedback loop for continual sensor development targeting new, emerging viruses, leveraging numerical modeling.
