SBIR Phase I: Development of a Novel Biosensor to Accelerate Investigations of COVID-19 and the Gut Microbiome.

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be advanced understanding of the interaction between SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, and the human gut microbiome, potentially resulting in new treatment approaches for COVID-19 patients. This project will develop a novel biosensor to enable low-cost, highly standardized studies of links between the human gut microbiome and COVID-19 to help evaluate the performance of different therapeutic approaches, drugs, vaccines, and other clinical interventions. Finally, once this project is successfully completed, there is a longer-term opportunity to add detection capability to the technology, enabling real-time, at-home tracking of SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in stool samples of high-risk patients and their caretakers. This would enable the technology to become a continuous viral detection tool. The proposed project will advance a sensor to allow isolation and preservation of microbial RNA from stool samples. Existing technique preserve microbial DNA but are not sensitive enough to preserve the far less stable RNA. The project will evaluate candidate extraction and fixative reagents based on technical performance, length of RNA stability, reagent cost, and storage requirements. Simultaneously, the project will develop an advanced systems architecture enabling a scalable solution for widespread use. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.