Biofouling is a significant problem which occurs when a biosensor is exposed to a complex medium (i.e. blood, plasma, or urine) that contains moieties other than the analyte of interest. Effects of biofouling can include false positives and decreased limits of detection. This project focuses on the continued development of an inexpensive, portable, and easy to use biosensor. The sensor is customizable and enables sensing of a variety of antigens in a physician's office, at a patient's bedside, or in a patient's home. The current design includes a single surface acoustic wave (SAW chip) that simultaneously senses an antigen and removes biofouling for the detection of cancer markers. Through this project, the team will optimize the sensor design, develop a commercially feasible product, identify a customer base, and validate business hypotheses.
The broader impact of this technology is its ability to impact the health of large populations of people who do not have access to quality screening/tests for various life-threatening diseases. This is more evident in developing countries, where a need for tests and test devices for infectious diseases is vital. The market for biosensors is growing because of the push to move diagnostic testing out of large clinical laboratories into decentralized settings such as physicians' offices and walk-in clinics. Implementation of effective point-of-care (POC) tests will not only impact the lives of individuals, but can reduce time in and costs to hospitals, which will result in a more efficient healthcare system.
