A Handheld Monitoring System For Biomarkers Of Response From Blood

The goal of this SBIR Phase II effort is the development of a prototype system for point-of-care monitoring of biomarkers of exposure. Two biochips will be developed for: (a) Cholinesterase panel - monitoring Acetylcholinesterase and Butyrylcholinesterase activities as biomarkers of exposure to organophosphates/ nerve-gas and (b) Heavy metal panel - monitoring Metallothionein and free blood lead level (using lead antibody) as biomarkers for metal exposure. The effort will also include development of a handheld analyzer using commercially available components. This work proposes two novel approaches for monitoring the activity of the cholinesterase enzymes. It is expected that the novel approaches will be at least 10 and as much as 1000 times more sensitive than the current techniques. During Phase I efforts we have successfully demonstrated proof-of-concepts for the key aspects of this work. The prototype biochip developed through this work will have an integrated sampling microneedle, require minimal sample volume (~ 1 microliter), and be capable of analyzing the targets in ~ 5 minutes. The research team includes members who are renowned experts in their area, with specific backgrounds in BioMEMS device development (at Siloam Biosciences) and identification/detection of biomarkers of exposure (at Center of Environmental Genetics, University of Cincinnati).