Biofunctionalization of photonic waveguide biosensors for sepsis diagnosis

• Grant number: 23/04830-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: August 10, 2023
• End date: July 01, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Christiano José Santiago de Matos
• Grantee: Jéssica Eliza Silva Fonsaca
• Supervisor: Laura M. Lechuga Gómez
• Host Institution: Instituto Mackenzie de Pesquisas em Grafeno e Nanotecnologias. Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/13288-6 - Two-dimensional materials and their derivatives in photonic biosensoring of pathogens, BP.PD

Abstract

When a chain of reactions is triggered throughout the body that has an infectious pathogen, this is called sepsis. There is a compelling requirement to develop strategies of diagnosing sepsis in early stages of its inception so more severe conditions may be prevented: to combat a disease, we must find it. Photonic biosensors based on silicon-waveguides can yield fruitful outcomes in this sense. These platforms have the huge advantage of being label-free and feasible to incorporate diverse functions (e.g., chemical, optical, microfluidics, and electronics) in one single system, thus creating prospects of obtaining the so desired lab-on-a-chip, for point-of-care diagnostics. Their high sensitivity, selectivity and reduced sample volume acceptance are a result of the proximity between confined light and the surface where the target species will deposit. Also because of that, the performance of the biosensor is strictly dependent on the modification and functionalization of the waveguide's sensing surface. The way the receptors are included or immobilized on it is a critical and complex step to be investigated and optimized. Based on that, the proposal of this project is to study the behavior of the transducer surface when exposed to different functionalization approaches and to the complementary analytes, besides exploring how the biochemical interaction will induce the local changes in the optical properties of the waveguides. Advancing on it, we expect to contribute by producing photonic biosensors for specific pathogens that may surpass the laboratory stage. (AU)