CAREER: Bioinspired optical sniffer based on microtoroid resonators and science and technology convergence

职业：基于微环形谐振器和科技融合的仿生光学嗅探器

• 批准号: 2237077
• 负责人: Tsu-Te Su
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-15 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2237077&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Bioinspired; optical; sniffer; based

The goal of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project is to create an optical “nose” as sensitive as a bloodhound’s and as selective as an insect’s. Animals' noses can distinguish among many thousands of different chemicals. Smell plays a critical role in chemical communication, sensing danger, and navigation. Thus, a biomimetic sensor based on an olfactory system would have tremendous benefits. This project will combine optical sensing technology that can detect changes in how light interacts with molecules with engineered olfactory receptors. Pattern recognition will be accomplished using artificial intelligence. It is anticipated that these advances will enable the detection of extremely low concentrations of biological and chemical targets relevant to a diverse range of diseases, environmentally important chemicals, and threats. In parallel, a do-it-yourself (DIY) refractometer kit will be developed to introduce middle and high-school students to optical engineering concepts. Lessons involving optics and food and water quality testing with refractometers will be developed to build a sustained STEM pipeline and to democratize science for a better world.A biomimetic sensor based on an olfactory system could automate, with greater sensitivity, tasks that can currently only be performed by humans and animals. Existing bioinspired electronic (e-) noses have not been widely adopted due to poor stability, slow response speed, and selectivity artifacts. In the proposed work, the biochemical sensing field will be advanced by creating an optical nose with improved sensitivity and selectivity by incorporating computationally designed olfactory receptors, which are superior to existing e-nose polymer coatings, onto whispering gallery mode (WGM) microtoroid optical resonators. WGM resonators have previously been widely used for biological and chemical sensing because of their high sensitivity compared to electronic sensors, but WGM resonators have never been used in concert with natural olfactory receptors for VOC detection due to the challenge of designing, producing, binding, and maintaining the functionality of these receptors. Here the field of WGM biochemical sensing will be advanced through a convergence of computational molecular design, synthetic biology, specialized surface chemistry approaches and photonic advances for multiplexing.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.

该教师早期职业发展（CAREER）项目的目标是创造一个像猎犬一样灵敏、像昆虫一样选择性的光学“鼻子”。动物的鼻子可以区分数千种不同的化学物质。因此，基于嗅觉系统的仿生传感器将能够检测光与分子相互作用的变化，从而带来巨大的好处。预计这些进步将能够检测与多种疾病、环境重要化学物质和威胁相关的极低浓度的生物和化学目标。将开发自制 (DIY) 折光仪套件，向中学生和高中生介绍光学工程概念，并将开发涉及使用折光仪进行光学、食品和水质测试的课程，以建立可持续的 STEM 管道并实现民主化。科学创造更美好的世界。基于嗅觉系统的仿生传感器可以以更高的灵敏度实现目前只能由人类和动物执行的任务的自动化，但由于稳定性较差，现有的仿生电子鼻尚未得到广泛采用。在拟议的工作中，生化传感领域将通过结合计算设计的嗅觉受体来创建具有更高灵敏度和选择性的光学鼻，该嗅觉受体优于现有的电子鼻聚合物。回音壁模式 (WGM) 微环形光学谐振器上的涂层，WGM 谐振器由于与电子传感器相比具有高灵敏度，此前已广泛用于生物和化学传感，但 WGM 谐振器从未与 VOC 的天然嗅觉受体配合使用。由于设计、生产、结合和维护这些受体功能的挑战，WGM 生化传感领域将通过计算分子设计、合成生物学、专业表面化学的融合来推进。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。