Biosensors made with polymer films incorporating metallic nanoparticles for clinical diagnosis

• Grant number: 20/15095-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2022
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Osvaldo Novais de Oliveira Junior
• Grantee: Rafael Cintra Hensel Ferreira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/22214-6 - Towards a convergence of technologies: from sensing and biosensing to information visualization and machine learning for data analysis in clinical diagnosis, AP.TEM

Abstract

The manufacture of low-cost, large-scale biosensors is a necessity to assist in the early diagnosis of many diseases, such as Cancer, and to detect infections such as COVID-19. A method used to increase the sensors' sensitivity and selectivity is the incorporation of metallic nanoparticles in the polymeric matrix on which the active layer of the biosensor is deposited. This is usually achieved by the adsorption of nanoparticles produced by chemical synthesis. However, controlling the spatial distribution of nanoparticles while preserving their interfaces is still a technological challenge. In this project, we will develop biosensors (immunosensors or genosensors) with a matrix made of nanostructured polymer films containing metallic nanoparticles produced in the gas phase. This approach provides complete and independent control over the nanoparticle composition, size, interface, and spatial distribution in the polymeric matrix. The nanoparticle-polymer interactions will be characterized with various spectroscopic techniques. The control in the incorporation of the nanoparticles is expected to improve the detection of genetic materials as well as antibodies. We shall also develop a low-cost portable prototype that can be easily used for diagnosis in the Brazilian National Health System. (AU)