Diffuse spectroscopy for inhomogeneous metal nanoparticle assays

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Centice proposes to develop a compact computational spectroscopy platform optimized for molecular recognition using metal nanoparticle assays. Nanoparticle based sensing mechanisms have been successfully demonstrated for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases, drug discovery, proteomics and biological agent detection. Molecular binding on the nanoparticle surface is transduced into an optical signal by modification of the nanoparticle extinction spectrum (via a shift in Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance) or by modification of the molecular scattering spectrum (via Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering). Translation of nanoparticle -based molecular recognition into functional miniature hand-held biosensors requires revolutionary optical designs and algorithms. Specifically, spectrometer designs optimized to large area nanoparticle assays and integrated spectral filtering improve the signal specificity and SNR of optical transduction by several orders of magnitude. Large population sampling with small population sensitivity is key to highly sensitive nanoparticle assay analysis. Centice's multimodal multiplex spectroscopy platform samples the spectral response of up to 10^6 populations of 10-100 nanoparticles in parallel. A proof of concept nanoparticle biosensor platform will be demonstrated in Phase I. The Phase I platform will be an integrated spectral imaging and digital processing system with chip-based assay insertion and complete software integration. The Phase II of this project will realize a fully integrated functional miniature nanoparticle based biosensor for real time disease diagnosis in whole blood assays.