Rapid, Inexpensive Assay For Influenza A

We will address the development of a rapid, inexpensive assay to screen nasopharyngealsecretions or sputum for influenza A. The assay utilizes a novel biosensor, with molecular recogni-tion/binding as the detection element and a proprietary, integrated optic interferometer as the transducer.The unique design of the interferometer minimizes thermomechanicaI noise to provide a highly stableplatform for sensing very low concentrations of specific biomolecules, chemicals or microorganisms ineither aqueous or gaseous environments. The approach relies on the detection of small refractive indexchanges at the surface of the interferometer. When receptor molecules are immobilized on theinterferometer surface, the subsequent binding of specific ligands results in a pronounced refractiveindex change. An assay based on this approach has a number of key advantages: l) it is rapid (equal toor less than 15 minutes), 2) it is sensitive (picogram/milliliter range), 3) it is simple (no labeling ortagging) and 4) it is low cost (< $5 unit cost, no expensive analytic instrumentation). The biosensorcan be packaged as a hand-held device, suitable for out-of-lab use. Moreover, the technology offers thepotential of simultaneously testing for several respiratory infections (e.g.; influenza A, influenza B, RVS,parainfluenza) in a single assay.