An Electrochemical, Point-of-Care Detector for Reagent-free, In-situ Diagnostics of Pathogens

For long-term exploratory space travel, there will be a critical need for in-situ diagnosis and assessment of biological specimens from symptomatic astronauts, especially, disease pathogens (virus, bacterium, or fungus) and microbial contaminants. Hence, a real-time, non-culture-based microbial detection, identification and quantification system for on-flight monitoring and evaluation of pathogens from astronauts, or the space environment, is strongly desired. The success of such diagnostic tasks critically depends upon the degree of automation and reliability of such trace level detection. To meet this need, we propose to develop a novel miniaturized, point-of-care (POC) detector for reagent-free, no-culturing, in-situ diagnostics of disease pathogens. The envisioned device will be compact, lightweight, fully integrated and automated (requiring minimum human intervention), and highly cost-effective and power-efficient. In Phase I, we will develop a new type of electrochemical molecules and fabricate solid electrode-based probe for in-vitro demonstration of accurate and effective signal transduction of selective binding of pathogenic cells to the electrode as proof-of-principle. In Phase II, the electrode probe will be optimized to increase specificity, sensitivity, stability, and the response to regular biological samples. Finally, the sensor will be integrated with a compact handheld instrument for data collection, analysis and processing and interfacing with existing NASA space instrumentation for both terrestrial and microgravity environments evaluation.

The end product of the proposed STTR effort will be a first-of-a-kind, commercially available, compact, low-cost, integrated disease pathogen analysis device without need of cell-culturing. NASA will have a handheld, easy-to-use electrochemical pathogen detector that can be easily integrated with existing astrobiological instrumentation and/or emerging smart biomedical system to keep track of astronaut health and space environment during planetary exploration. In addition, the same device can be adapted and used in other applications such as, life discovery on other planets, pharmacotherapy environment monitoring, and space biology experiments.

The platform developed in this effort will provide the technological backbone to develop a new type of electrochemical sensor or diagnostic technology and no-cell-culturing-based pathogen detection for a variety of applications in healthcare, life sciences, hospital and health site monitoring. This platform will enable the creation of in-situ analytical tools for the preparation, detection, and analysis of low level pathogens obtained from biological fluid and/or water samples. It may find use in drug discovery and the study of human diseases, clinical and preclinical diagnosis, as well as in the areas of cellular biology, microbiology, and homeland security. Total market estimates exceed several hundred million dollars.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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