Nanopillar Devices for Single Molecule Sensing in The Clinic

The precise and early detection of biomarkers serves as molecular evidence for managing emerging diseases, enabling timely interventions, and potentially saving lives. Nanomaterials and nanostructures, with their unique physico-chemical properties, can be harnessed to develop innovative sensing systems for multiplex biomarker detection, generating patient-specific molecular profiles from a simple blood sample. At the Centre for Personalised Nanomedicine at UQ, our focus is on developing translational nanotechnologies. We explore nanomaterials and nanostructures to design highly sensitive and multiplex sensing systems for profiling circulating biomarkers in the clinic. In this presentation, we will highlight our recent adventures into single molecule sensing and show how these sensing systems can provide a new window into complex diseases. We will introduce a nanopillar sensing device with single molecule sensitivity for monitoring the human immune system [1], cancer [2, 3] and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (unpublished). Furthermore, we exemplify the design of novel biohybrid nanoprobes for sensing of emerging infectious diseases [4].<br/><br/><b>References </b><br/>[1] J. Li, et al., <i>Nature Communications.</i> <b>2021</b>, <i>12</i>, 1087.<br/>[2] J. Li, et al., <i>Advanced Science.</i> <b>2023</b>, <i>10</i>, 2204207.<br/>[3] J. Wang, et al., <i>Science Advances.</i> <b>2020</b>, <i>6</i>, eaax3223.<br/>[4] J. Li, et al., <i>Nature Nanotechnology. </i><b>2023</b>, in press<i> (</i><i>https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01415-1</i><i>). </i>