Development of a Non-invasive Handheld Immunosensor
Joint Agency Name:
PI Name:
Ouellette, Amy L
PI Phone:
650-725-6139
PI Email:
amyo@stanford.edu
Fax:
PI Organization Type:
UNIVERSITY
Organization Name:
Stanford University
PI Address 1:
330 Serra Mall, Room CISX-205
PI Address 2:
PI Web Page:
City: Stanford
State: CA
Zip Code: 94305
Congressional District: 14
Comments:
Project Type:
GROUND
Solicitation:
NSBRI
Start Date:
11/01/2005
End Date:
06/30/2006
Fiscal Year:
2006
No. of Post Docs:
1
No. of PhD Degrees:
1
No. of PhD Candidates:
1
No. of Master' Degrees:
0
No. of Master's Candidates:
0
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:
0
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:
0
Monitoring Center:
NSBRI
Contact Monitor:
Contact Phone:
Contact Email:
Flight Program:
Flight Assignment:
Key Personnel Changes/Previous PI:
COI Name:
COI Institution:
Kovacs, Gregory
Stanford University School of Medicine
Grant/Contract No.:
NCC 9-58-PF00901
Performance Goal No.:
Performance Goal Text:
Task Description:
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP.
Cytokine proteins are one of the most important early indicators of infection and immune response, and therefore serve as an excellent diagnostic tool for monitoring health. The objective of this project is to develop an easy-to-use handheld diagnostic sensor, with the NSBRI Smart Medical Systems Team, for the rapid detection of several cytokine levels in saliva. This lightweight and non-invasive monitor for the routine detection of cytokine levels would play an important role in astronaut health-care during long-duration space missions, and would be an immediate asset to the medical community on Earth.
Current affinity-based technologies used to detect cytokines, such as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), are time consuming and labor intensive, requiring trained technicians and bulky equipment not suitable for space flight. The specific aim of this project is to develop a miniature immunosensor that will deliver fast and sensitive results (within minutes). This prototype will contain a microfluidic consumable integrated with automated sample preparation and a reusable optical readout device.
I will accomplish this aim by optimizing the sensor’s three state-of-the-art key features: 1) Adaptation of an affinity-based assay that uses up-converting phosphor (UCP) reporter technology (SRI International, USA) for the sensitive detection and quantification of several cytokine profiles [1]; 2) Modification of micro-pillared capillary structures on the microfluidic chip (Åmic, Sweden) to provide direct fluidic control over critical assay parameters [2]; 3) Development of an optical detector, to detect and amplify UCP signal on the microfluidic chip. This research will produce a convenient and affordable diagnostic test that could also be used to implement virtually any affinity-based assay on a common platform for Earth and space-based medical care.
Research Impact/Earth Benefits:
The earth-based applications of this funded research project are the development of diagnostic equipment to monitor infection and immune response in clinical point-of-care situations. UCP technology integrated with an Åmic microfluidic platform promises a smaller, faster, easy-to-use biosensor that will integrate multiple steps into a single, streamlined application to detect multiple analytes in parallel, that is simple and robust. This immunosensor will have important implications for human healthcare here on Earth. The sensor will also be adaptable to other clinical diagnostic applications for monitoring health and disease, such as cardiac enzymes and pathogen biomarkers.
Task Progress:
The progress of the project’s research tasks from November 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006, the main findings are listed below:
The first task of the project was to develop a reliable immunoassay using recombinant IFN-y cytokine protein. This was accomplished using two types of assay platforms, a nitrocellulose membrane and a microcapillary chip. Currently in progress, the second task was to implement an automated sample preparation into the microfluidic chip. The third task was to develop and assemble a handheld read-out device to read the immunoassay. Preliminary design and product specifications for this optical detector read-out device were proposed.
Bibliography Type:
Description: (Last Updated: 02/12/2007)
Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals
Amy L. Ouellette, Janice J. Li, David E. Cooper,1 Antonio J. Ricco, and Gregory T. A. Kovacs? "Evolving Point-of-Care Diagnostics: Up-Converting Phosphor Bioanalytical Systems" submitted 2006. , Jan-2006
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