We are developing a magneto-nano sensor protein chip and a multiplex magnetic sorter based on magneticnanoparticles that allow rapid conversion of discrete biomolecule binding events into electrical signals.These nanotechnologies can detect target molecules down to the single molecule level in less than an hour.Such sensitivity and detection speed are unavailable or impractical with current technologies. The two maincomponents of this project, a magneto-nano sensor chip and a nanoparticle-based magnetic sorter, canoperate independently or in conjunction. The maqneto-nano sensor chip will recognize and quantitate proteintumor markers and relevant protein profiles in mouse and human serum samples with unprecedentedsensitivity and specificity. These magneto-nano sensors function by exhibiting significant resistance changeswhich are induced solely by external magnetic fields and are therefore insensitive to solution conditions suchas buffers, pH or ionic strength. Biological sensing is accomplished by affinity labeling both the sensorsurface and magnetic nanoparticles to simultaneously attach to distinct domains of specifically targetedbiological molecules. The magneto-nano sensor then detects the attachment of the biomolecules through themagnetic field induced by the magnetic nanoparticles. For sufficiently small sensors and appropriatemagnetic nanoparticle tags, affinity bonding due to a single, specific molecule can be detected as a simplechange in the sensor electrical resistance so that expensive excitation sources or remote sensors are notrequired. The magnetic sorter will rapidly segregate biomolecules. based upon the tunable magneticproperties of the magnetic nanoparticles which bind them, by causing them to deflect at different speedsunder a given magnetic field and gradient. In particular, we will be extending technologies to capture andcharacterize circulating tumor cells from mouse and human serum samples and subsequently analyze thecell lysate for monitoring cancer therapy.Relevance to public health: The magneto-nano sensor protein chips and multiplex magnetic sorterdeveloped in this project can ultimately be used by cancer biologists as well as clinical oncologists to rapidlyfollow numerous proteins in clinical samples in an automated and high throughput fashion. By essentiallyapplying patient serum or tissue samples to the magneto-nano sensor chip, one can readily ascertain thepresence or absence of a large number of tumor markers. Additionally, the multiplex magnetic sorter canperform high throughput enrichment of circulating tumor targets or depletion of impurities, improving complexproteomic analysis that currently suffers from poor signal-to-noise ratio.
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