This Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 project will test the feasibility of a new detector of whole pathogenic organisms that is sensitive enough to detect a single anthrax spore, more rapid than polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and as specific as established assays based on biomolecular affinity. The detector is the suspended microchannel resonator (SMR), a recently developed MEMs-based sensor that measures mass in fluid with unprecedented precision. This project will fabricate SMR sensors that have been modified to accept whole pathogens up to micron-sized spores, and functionalize them using antibody and peptide receptors. The detectors sensitivity, specificity, and throughput will be tested on anthrax and M13 bacteriophages. The results will help determine whether the SMR performance may ultimately surpass the current state of the art for detection of biowarfare agents or infectious disease.
Such a product may help satisfy the great need for rapid detection of bioterrorism agents and accelerated diagnosis in clinical settings. For the case of weaponized anthrax, it may be possible to identify specific spores in minutes, from eluted nasal swabs and other sources with low spore count. By providing actionable information in minutes or hours, the SMR would help fill the current gap between local screening of anthrax exposure, and confirmatory testing which currently takes days.
