Multiplex Aptamer-Based Sensor for Tick-borne Diseases

Operational Technologies Corporation (OpTech) has patents pending for: 1) one-step plastic-adherent aptamer-magnetic bead (MB) plus aptamer-quantum dot (QD) sandwich assays (already successfully applied to ultrasensitive detection of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever or CCHF under a recent Army SBIR project), and 2) a multiplex cartridge in which the assays self-assemble as they traverse microfluidic channels (< 100 µL). Various sized QDs can be utilized with a monochrome light source to enable simultaneous multicolored emissions for each type of captured pathogen in a clinical sample. OpTech developed this concept for rapid (< 15 minute) food and water safety testing, but can apply it to tickborne-borne viral and rickettsial detection in infected ticks or clinical samples in panels of 20 or more analytes. In Phase I, OpTech will develop DNA aptamers that distinguish Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus (TBEV) from a spotted fever group rickettsia, and CCHF (using OpTech’s existing aptamers). OpTech will also team with Nanohmics, Inc., to develop a cartridge and portable fluorometer design for Phase II development. OpTech will attempt to demonstrate multiplex assay potential in Phase I by spectrofluorometry and deliver 100 prototype assays to the DoD at the conclusion of Phase I for independent testing and evaluation by the Army.