Isothermally Amplified Proximity Ligation Assays for Biothreat Agents

Echo Technical and the Ellington Lab at the University of Texas at Austin previously developed a demonstration biosensor capable of using aptamer-based receptors (Biological Reconfigurable Interface Electronics For Classification and Analysis of Selected Elements, or BRIEFCASE). They proposed in Phase I to adapt a recently developed technology, proximity ligation assays, to a field-deployable device based on the BRIEFCASE to perform rapid, specific, hypersensitive detection and identification of the unique protein biosignatures of biothreat agents. The feasibility of this new technique, isothermally amplified proximity ligation assay (IAPLA), and an IAPLA-based biosensor prototype, has now been demonstrated to support goals identified for sensitivity, miniaturization, and field deployability. This Phase II proposal is for the further development of IAPLA probes and reagents and the development of a field deployable IAPLA-BRIEFCASE prototype biosensor.