I-Corps: Silk Stabilization Technologies

I-Corps：丝绸稳定技术

• 批准号: 1521898
• 负责人: David Kaplan
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Tufts University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1521898&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Silk; Stabilization; Technologies

There are pervasive storage and transport problems that currently limit the accuracy of diagnostic tests and distribution of robust testing devices for remote usage. These problems stem from the inherent temperature stabilities of the molecules and reagents required for sensitive quantitation including antibodies, enzymes, protein standards, and the test specimens themselves (i.e. whole blood, saliva, urine, etc.). This I-Corps team proposes a technology platform based on using silk fibroin as a stabilizer that can be used to protect these molecules from degradation at ambient temperatures, which in turn can expand the use cases of diagnostic devices deployed in the field, will reduce the costs associated with cold storage, improve the shelf life of precious internal standards or immobilized chemistries on sensors, and potentially make the retrieval of fluid bio-specimens more feasible.The silk technology platform offers many potential avenues for commercial development within the field of diagnostics. The initial work conducted by this team has focused on adapting silk purification and formatting to improve its stabilizing features (i.e. thermal protection / improved recovery) for needs in field settings. The team has also recently demonstrated thermal stability enhancements provided by the silk matrix across a wide number of test markers and demonstrated compatibility with numerous distinct testing techniques such as immunoassays, quantitative real-time PCR, and various high-throughput approaches. The team proposes the reduction of these core concepts to the retrofitting of existing products with poor thermal stability and the development of new products enabled by the technology, including point-of-care devices and sample vials containing labile reagents. I-Corps funds will support the development of a prototype device that incorporates a dried silk matrix and can be used to capture and dry capillary blood on an ergonomic and inexpensive consumable.

当前存在普遍存在的存储和运输问题，这些问题目前限制了诊断测试的准确性以及用于远程使用的可靠测试设备的分布。这些问题源于敏感定量所需的分子和试剂的固有温度稳定性，包括抗体，酶，蛋白质标准品以及测试标本本身（即全血，唾液，尿液等）。这支I-Corps团队提出了一个基于使用丝绸纤维蛋白作为稳定剂的技术平台，可用于保护这些分子免受环境温度下降解的稳定剂，从而扩大了诊断设备的用例，将在领域中部署的诊断设备的用例，将降低与冷藏相关的成本，以改善造成的诸如式的内部水平或不可能的内部水平或不可或缺的化学效果，从而使传感器的质量恢复到传感器上，并降低了传感器的遗留下来，并降低了传感器的水平。可行的。丝绸技术平台为诊断领域内的商业发展提供了许多潜在的途径。该团队开展的最初工作重点是调整丝绸纯化和格式化，以提高其在现场设置中需求的稳定功能（即热保护 /改善的恢复）。该团队最近还证明了丝绸基质在广泛的测试标记中提供的热稳定性增强功能，并与许多不同的测试技术（例如免疫测定，定量实时PCR和各种高通量方法）证明了兼容性。该团队建议将这些核心概念减少到具有较差的热稳定性的现有产品以及技术启用的新产品的开发，包括保健设备和含有不稳定试剂的样品小瓶。 I-Corps资金将支持包含干丝基质的原型设备的开发，可用于在符合人体工程学且廉价的消耗量上捕获和干燥毛细血管血液。