I-Corps: Translation Potential of a Point-of-Care Drug Detection System

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is based on the development of new diagnostic and detection technology that is a simple and easy to use point-of-care drug test to aid in overdose prevention and treatment. This innovative testing solution has the potential to provide rapid results, allow immediate clinical action, and reduce emergency department stays. Rapid and accurate drug screening is crucial for patient management and treatment decisions, especially in emergency settings, pain management centers, and maternal fetal medicine clinics. By reducing diagnostic time, this technology can improve patient outcomes and reduce costs for patients, hospitals, and insurance companies. 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 methods to design and characterize protein-based sensors for small molecules. Candidate sensors are screened in a high-throughput cell-based assay which couples the chemically sensitive binding of protein and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to gene expression. Using methods in high throughput sequencing, the sensitivity of proteins to different molecules is measured using relative gene expression as a proxy. These protein-based sensors could be formatted as paper-based drug panels, yielding the benefits of reduced assay complexity and higher information density for diagnosing patient conditions, such as the presence of drugs of abuse in clinical settings. 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.