Development of a Multiplex Bioassay for Early Predictors of Multiple Organ Injury

"ABSTRACT: Bioassays employed to evaluate the diverse range of biomarkers associated with organ injury are time-consuming, costly and require multiple instruments/testing formats to reach a diagnosis (i.e. fluorescence-based capture, ELISAs, PCR, etc.). Individually, these platforms are incapable of predicting the onset of irreversible organ tissue injury (e.g. kidney, liver, heart and lung). If a single multiplexed screening bioassay could be fabricated to assess multiple, pre-clinical biomarkers that are predictive indicators of systemic toxicity, it would significantly reduce the complexity, expense and turnaround time associated with injured soldier diagnostics. One barrier to transitioning microarray technology into multiplex medicinal diagnostics has been the limitations imposed by fluorescence/optical-based labeling and endpoint detection. To overcome these limitations, Nanohmics Inc., an early-stage biotechnology and sensor development company (Austin, TX), working in collaboration with commercial and University partners is proposing the continued development of a multiplexed diagnostic platform based on direct electrical detection of pre-clinical and eventually clinical toxicity biomarkers for predictive organ tissue injury. The overall goal of the program is to develop a tissue injury diagnostic platform that can assess biomarkers originating from diverse biospecimens (e.g. urine, blood plasma) in a single compact detection system. "