Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing of Biosensors

ABSTRACT: Nano Terra (NT) proposes to partner with Prof. Howard Katz (Johns Hopkins), a leader in the field of organic electronics, to fabricate and validate OFET biosensors made by scalable manufacturing processes. Prof. Katz has recently published work that definitively demonstrates the mechanism of detection of ChemFET-type biosensors and the use of these devices in the detection of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP), a traumatic brain injury biomarker. Nano Terra will leverage its proprietary soft lithographic techniques and its expertise in the design and implementation of roll-to-roll manufacturing processes to scale up the fabrication of OFET-based biosensors for GFAP as a proof-of-principle for Phase I. In Phase I, the NT/JHU team will fabricate GFAP biosensors on flexible PET substrates in a roll-to-roll process and generate device statistics, demonstrating stable sensor performance over many cycles. The data will be validated with ELISA and used to direct an initial optimization of the biosensors and manufacturing process to transition to Phase II. BENEFIT: Large-scale production of biosensors will establish a new market in medical diagnostics and provide new tools for the next generation of advanced consumer products. The industrial development of an OFET technology will help bridge the gap between industry and academic efforts to accelerate organic electronics development.