Multiplexed-Magnetically Assisted Test Strips (M-MATS)

Some biowarfare (BW) agents infect at extremely low doses and their detection is masked by debris-ridden water. Furthermore, a large variety of BW agents may be disbursed in a water supply, thus complicating detection. Therefore, ultrasensitive, multiplexed detection is required. To address this need, Operational Technologies (OpTech) has recently been awarded an EPA SBIR contract to couple highly specific DNA aptamers to ultrasensitive fluorescent nanoparticles (NPs) and push sensitivity limits. However, OpTech's EPA project will demonstrate individual aptamer-NP assays in separate lanes of a Magnetically-Assisted Test Strip (MATS) using a prototype compact fluorescence reader. MATS is similar to an immunochromatographic test strip, but its flow is not limited by capillary action, because it uses magnetically guided aptamer-magnetic microbeads in microfluidic channels to purify targets from the sample. Under this STTR proposal, OpTech proposes to team with Texas State University and leverage its EPA project to accelerate and enhance the MATS-sensor development for both military and EPA use by developing a larger repertoire of multiplexed aptamer-NP and antibody-NP assays using different colored NPs in each microchannel of the MATS. In Phase II, OpTech and Texas State University will build a lifetime fluorometer attachment to the compact sensor for even greater sensitivity.