NSF Org: |
CMMI Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | May 28, 2020 |
Latest Amendment Date: | May 28, 2020 |
Award Number: | 2033349 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Khershed Cooper
khcooper@nsf.gov (703)292-7017 CMMI Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn ENG Directorate For Engineering |
Start Date: | July 1, 2020 |
End Date: | December 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $200,000.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $200,000.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
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History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3400 N CHARLES ST BALTIMORE MD US 21218-2608 (443)997-1898 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
3400 N Charles Street Baltimore MD US 21218-2608 |
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): |
AM-Advanced Manufacturing, COVID-19 Research |
Primary Program Source: |
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Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
This EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award seeks to develop a scalable and cost-effective fabrication paradigm for rationally designed nanostructured substrates, which in concert with optical measurements and machine learning, offer highly sensitive and selective detection and identification of the coronavirus related to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The research approach paves the way for large area rigid and flexible sensors that can be used to optically identify virus strains with minimal sample preparation in point-of-care settings thereby greatly improving preparedness for future waves of coronavirus outbreak and other pandemics. Crucially, the detection methodology eliminates the need for virus-specific biomolecular capture or detection elements and holds promise for detection of mutated viruses without any alteration to the platform. By combining expertise in the disparate fields of scalable nanomanufacturing, optical spectroscopy, biosensing, analytical chemistry and machine learning, this endeavor not only delivers a fundamentally different approach to population-wide testing for viruses but also creates a new tool to explore diverse biological systems. The project seeks to enhance the education curriculum for undergraduates while the research findings related to the fabrication of the large-area sensor fabric and its use in detection of infectious agents are incorporated into graduate teaching activities and disseminated into the scientific community.
This award supports the development of a new platform for ultrasensitive and rapid detection of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by exploiting Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) signatures recorded on highly reproducible plasmonically active substrates in a label-free manner. Large area nanogap (hot-spot) patterns are nanoimprinted on flexible fabric. The gap dimensions (5-10 nm) are regulated and reduced to sub-lithographic sizes by transfer onto pre-stretched substrates followed by strain release. SERS spectra are collected from low pathogenic viruses as well as from clinical samples with suspected SARS-CoV-2 and other human respiratory infections. Given the complexity of the samples and the presence of other spectral interferents, pattern recognition methods and supervised classification approaches are harnessed to relate the spectral information to the identification of pathogens. By capturing latent biological differences that are encoded in the vibrational fingerprints, this method creates a new landscape for pathogen analysis eschewing the need for complex sample preparation using specific capture and detection molecules. Through this multidisciplinary collaborative effort that integrates nanomanufacturing, biophotonics, and machine learning, this project lays the foundation for a broadly applicable sensing platform with applications extending beyond virus detection. In addition, the enhanced sensitivity of this novel sensing tool is expected to revolutionize the understanding of other nanoscale molecular processes such as energy transduction and protein conformational dynamics and function.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Funds were used to develop a new platform for biosensing of infectious agents including but not limited to COVID-19. Nanomanufacturing strategies were developed to pattern nanostructures on both rigid and flexible substrates to increase sensitivity of detection and a machine learning methodology was created for identification of different viruses such as COVID-19, Zika, Marburg, and H1N1. The nanomanufacturing processes developed include patterning of nanoantenna using large area nanoimprint lithography and transfer printing. The well-defined plasmonic ‘hotspots’ provided by nanoimprint lithography coupled with transfer printing for fabrication on rigid and flexible substrates enables enhancement of the otherwise weak Raman signal from the viruses. Further, fabrication on a transparent substrate enables the use of the sensor as a wearable or, alternately, for mounting it on any desired surface. Finally, the developed method offers high predictive power even when the virus resides in a physiologically complex matrix like saliva. This platform provides a powerful tool to overcome the technical barrier in virus surveillance discovery, and its many salient features should directly help in virus identification and outbreak preparedness. Advances were made in experimental, simulation and modeling engineering methods. The findings were disseminated through a publication in a high impact peer review journal and filing of patent applications and students were trained in state-of-the-art nanomanufacturing, spectroscopy and artificial intelligence models.
Last Modified: 05/01/2022
Modified by: David Gracias
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