I-Corps: Translation Potential of a Biosensor Platform for Tissue Evaluation

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is based on the development of a technology capable of accurately and non-invasively providing diagnostic information for the identification and quantification of clinical signs and symptoms of infection and inflammation in chronic wounds. The solution will provide greater adequacy of wound bed preparation. This technology consists of sensors for real-time, non-invasive, point-of-care diagnostics for tissue evaluation in clinical settings, with a particular focus on the healing of chronic wounds. Ultimately, this technology has the potential to allow clinicians to directly correlate particular medical interventions with specific cellular responses, which could significantly improve patient outcomes and quality of life. This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of the technology. The solution is based on the development of a semi-synthetic scaffold functionalized with molecular biosensors capable of providing ultra-sensitive, non-invasive monitoring of cell function. This monitoring allows physicians to tackle one of the recent trends in medical diagnostics, which is the development of point-of-care methods to enable rapid, self-supported testing in outpatient or remote settings to complement standard clinical diagnostics. The biosensors are based on aptamers, which have several advantages over antibodies and provide a higher throughput than the currently used common intermediate or end-point destructive assessments (e.g., histology and mass spectroscopy). 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.