SBIR Phase II: Development of Resonant Waveguide-Grating Elements for High Throughput Screening of Proteins

This Small Business Inovation Research (SBIR) Phase II research project applies a new sensor principle to develop commercial High-Throughput Screening (HTS) systems for drug-development applications. The advantages of the Guided-Mode Resonance (GMR) sensor concept for such applications reside in its inherent physical characteristics including polarization diversity, materials independence, choice of spectral regions, angular-addressing flexibility, and associated compact system configurations. These properties enable tag-free sensor technology with high sensitivity, high accuracy, and multi-parameter detection. A major objective is the development and verification of GMR-sensor HTS commercial system prototypes in standard formats. Integrated analysis software will present data on biomolecular binding events, including background density and molecular accumulation dynamics, to the user. An additional main thrust is the development of attachment chemistry and methods for sensor activation where a set of protocols and processes for example measurands will be optimized to maximize detection sensitivity. Finally, by applying transmission sensor formats with shaped input light beams and integrated detector matrices, the next-generation compact system designs for massively parallel screening of drug compounds will be provided. This research project will stimulate progress in drug discovery. Guided-mode resonance sensors operate without chemical tags permitting observation and study of unperturbed biochemical processes, as no foreign substance is introduced. Therefore, these sensors provide enhanced understanding of chemical and biomolecular reactions and may lead to advances in chemical process development and drug discovery and design. Moreover, this class of biosensors has other potential applications including medical diagnostics, proteomics, genomics, environmental monitoring, and homeland security. Application of this technology to microfluidics, lab-on-a-chip, and wireless integrated sensors for homeland security and environmental monitoring may provide new tools for accurate and cost-effective detection of biotoxins, explosives, and hazardous materials.