Mycobacteria are slender, nonmotile, gram-positive rods and do not produce spores or capsules. Nineteen Mycobacterium species are associated with disease in humans. The most dangerous of these diseases is tuberculosis, caused by infection with M. tuberculosis. Tuberculosis kills about 2 million people annually and infects another 8 million people each year. Treatment and diagnosis of the disease is complicated by current laboratory methods that can take from four to six weeks to establish a definitive identification of infection. New diagnostic systems are needed for earlier detection of tuberculosis, to better monitor the treatment of tuberculosis, and to study the epidemiology of the disease. Luna Innovations has assembled a team of researchers to develop a micromachined biosensor array that combines technology from silicon micromachining, optical fiber sensors, and biochemistry for measurement of mycobacterial pathogens. The sensing element of the biosensor array will be a microcantilever beam coated on one side with receptors. As pathogens bind to the coated beam, a biochemical induced surface stress causes the beam to deflect proportionally to concentration. The Phase I program will focus on developing the microcantilever biosensor array, demonstrating detection of mycobacterial pathogens in neat solutions, and comparing performance to known standards.
