Biosensors Conference

Abstract
Respiratory infections are among the top two causes of treat-and-release Emergency Department (ED) visits in the USA. Globally, respiratory infections accounted for ~42.8% of all-cause illnesses in 2019. The combined forces of rapid urbanization, globalization, and easy international travel have heightened the risk of widescale transmission of respiratory infections, thereby posing an increased threat to public health. This strain became especially evident in the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in ~6.9 million deaths globally.We developed a breathalyzer to rapidly detect SARS-CoV-2 in a single breath. It combines recent advances in breath aerosol sampling technology and an ultrasensitive biosensing technique. A research prototype of the device, recently published in ACS Sensors, will serve as the platform for the development and validation of the multi-pathogen biosensor/breathalyzer. Preliminary human data from COVID-19 patients collected through clinical trials conducted at the WUSTL Infectious Disease Clinical Research Unit (IDCRU) has demonstrated the feasibility and specificity of the technology in breath-based diagnosis. The time from breath into the device to read-out of infection (or not) is under 60 seconds. The biosensor detects all current strains of SARS-CoV-2 and is sensitive to 20-50 viral particles per milliliter depending on the strain. The electrochemical sensor uses voltammetry to measure oxidation of tyrosine amino acids within a protein. Oxidation is the release of electrons that the carbon fiber electrode detects as a change in current. The amount of current is proportional to the amount of protein present. The biosensor uses a llama nanobody (antibody) that is covalently attached to the surface to provide specificity and concentrate the protein at the electrode for measurement. The device collects an exhaled breath condensate on to a chilled hydrophilic surface. Rapid detection of a respiratory pathogen can be used in mass screening of individuals as they file into indoor spaces, such as airport security areas, office buildings, conference centers, mass transit hubs, or military vessels. Having test turnaround times of 60 seconds allows for large queues of individuals to be screened rapidly, then either admitted or quarantined away from the group. In addition, the breathalyzer could also be used in point-of-care (POC) locations, such as local clinics or pharmacies. The team at Washington University has worked in close conjunction with Y2X Life Sciences with an eye on commercialization throughout the research and development phases.
Biography
John worked with Dr. Michael Numan (Psychology) studying the neural circuits underlying maternal avoidance in rats. He graduated in 1998 and spent a year working in Research and Development at NEN Life Sciences (now Perkin Elmer) developing research reagents, including some that his own lab still uses. In 1999 he started his PhD in Neuroscience at Washington University in the lab of Dr. David Holtzman (Neurology) studying Alzheimer’s disease. Much of his PhD work focused on the proteins and cellular pathways that eliminate amyloid-beta (Aβ) from the brain. Here he developed the first use of in vivo microdialysis to study Aβ kinetics in the brain of a living mouse. John received his PhD in 2005, then became a post-doc in the lab of Dr. Steven Mennerick (Psychiatry) where he learned to pretend to be an electrophysiologist to study synaptic processes that regulate Aβ generation. He started his own laboratory (Neurology) at WashU in 2010, received tenure in 2015. Around 2011, the lab developed a novel micro-immunoelectrode (MIE) that uses amperompetry to detect rapid changes in A and tau in a mouse brain. The biosensors have an antibody attached to the electrode surface to make it specific to a particular protein. In August 2020, they adapted the format of the electrode to detect SAR-CoV-2. The biosensor can detect virus 20-50 viral particles per milliliter in under a minute. That biosensor is being deployed in a breathalyzer and an indoor air quality monitor. John is a scientific founder of Y2X Life Sciences, the company that has licensed the technology for commercialization.

Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the significance of innovative tools for disease diagnostics on the spot. The long turnaround times of generally used diagnostic tools, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), have limited the efforts to for getting back to the usual daily life situation. As an alternative diagnostic tool, the rapid test kits such as lateral flow assays were utilized to control the pandemic. However, the accuracy and sensitivity were always found questionable to be compared with PCR performance. Therefore user-friendly, cheap, rapid, accurate, sensitive, and portable sensors still become vital for disease biomarker detection, especially in rural areas for point of care applications. The organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) was used as a biosensor and it translates the binding event into an electrical signal. The gold electrodes were fabricated on a disposable substrate, which is later on functionalized with a uniquely engineered protein construct that specifically binds to the target virus. Owing to the high density of recognition units immobilized on the gate electrode and more importantly to large signal amplification feature of the OECT, the sensor responds to very low concentrations of the protein. However, due to the diffusion-dominated transport, the sensor requires certain time to display a difference the output signal. This incubation step is mostly a main reason of long sample-to-result times and can cause difference among the same measurement, resulting in measurement errors. One of the most suitable way to reduce incubation time and later measurement error is to utilize from the convective forces to transport the target proteins towards to the sensor area. Alternating current electrothermal flow (ACET) was cooperated with an electrochemical biosensor to accelerate the device operation. Using the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in human saliva and nasal swab as an example target, it is shown that ACET enables protein recognition within only a few minutes of sample exposure, supporting its use in clinical practice. Other alternative techniques with an emphasis on optical biosensors will be also presented in the perspective of validation of electrochemical sensor results and the versatility of the technique.
Biography
Anil Koklu is currently a senior lead engineer in ASELSAN. He completed his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in 2014. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in 2019. He worked 3 year as a Research Scientist at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. His background includes iterdiciplinary research program with close collaborations in the fields of microfluidics integrated electrochemical and optical based biosensors.

Abstract
Innovative sensors are all around us and can revolutionize the biomedical sector. All of us wear various
textile every day. If we wish to detect or to monitor important parameters from our body than it is
logical to embed sensors in our cloth or to use textile to develop sensors for biomedical applications.
We will present the following textile-based sensors: pressure sensors on insole for monitoring human
gait pattern, sensor which can detect presence of date rape drugs in drinks and MXene-modified
wearable textile-based non-invasive sensors for pH monitoring. In addition, we will present different
textile-based heaters for beauty sector which can improve cosmetic treatment.
The mission of the recently emerged green electronics concept is to provide inherently “benign”
electronic solutions, which would allow scaling down the toxic waste production across the life cycle of
electronic product, and enable a sustainable path during its design, manufacture, use, and ultimate
disposal. This ambitious field requires unconventional solutions, and conceptualizes around building
nontoxic, human- and environmentally friendly, energy efficient, and low-cost electronics utilizing a vast
repository of readily available natural resources. We will present the following food-based and food
waste-based sensors: passive resonant sensors which are manufactured from food to monitor wireless
through inductive coupling different parameters of our health from oral cavity to the gut, human bite
force sensors created from food materials and different electrodes and sensors fabricated from food
waste, such as potato peel which have been tested for biomedical applications.
Biography
Dr. Goran Stojanović (www.stojanovicgoran.com) is a full professor at Faculty of Technical
Sciences (FTS), University of Novi Sad (UNS), Serbia. He received a BSc, MSc and a PhD degree
in 1996, 2003 and 2005, respectively, from FTS-UNS, all in electrical engineering. He has 27 years
of experience in R&D. He is an author/co-author of 180 papers in peer-reviewed journals with
impact factors, 5 books, 5 patents, 2 chapters in monographs. H-index: 28, Citations: 2969. Prof.
Stojanović has been a supervisor of 14 PhD students, 40 MSc students and 60 diploma students at
the FTS-UNS. He has more than 18 years’ experience in coordination of EU funded projects, with
total budget exceeding 22.86 MEUR.

Abstract
The meat production chain is complex and begins with the Pre-harvest (feed, farm biosecurity, herd/flock health status, animal welfare, transportation, livestock market/abattoir lairage), followed by Harvest (slaughter, dressing, chilling) and Post-harvest module (deboning, meat processing, packaging, distribution, retail, consumer). Consumers` awareness increased globally regarding animal health, welfare and food safety/quality, food fraud, including food systems` sustainability and impact of meat production chain to the climate change. Competent authorities and retail chains also demand proper and accurate information on animal health, welfare and meat-borne food safety hazards in real time to make evidence-based decisions. The transformation of traditional meat value chain towards better sustainability depends on reliable and affordable tools to optimize such transformation and fulfil food safety objectives. Sensing systems (biosensors), as `Lab-On-A-Chip` and `Point-Of-Care` devices suitable for field application, can play an important role and become a part of the solution for transformation of food systems towards sustainable and climate-smart agri-food chain, including within the meat production chain in farm-to-fork continuum. Biosensors allow early and accurate quantitative detection of different animal health and welfare biomarkers, including detection of food-borne hazards, to support food safety risk management in both, `traditional` and `novel` (e.g. cell-based meat) food value chains for the benefit of global population. Further research should be focused on development of multiplex sensing systems with capability for simultaneous detection of selected biomarkers to support integrated approach toward food (meat) system` transformation enabling early information on animal health and welfare relevant for farm production parameters, as well as food safety.

Biography
Ivan Nastasijević is an experienced food safety scientist with diversified experience related to applied research, teaching and outreach programme tailored for the meat industry. His expertise include risk assessment, food safety management system (HACCP), risk-based meat inspection, Longitudinally Integrated Safety Assurance (LISA), control strategies of zoonotic food (meat) borne pathogens and AMR along the meat chain, as well as risk communication. His current research interest is related to development and application of multiplex biosensors in farm-slaughterhouse continuum to support animal health, welfare and food safety management based on Food Chain Information (FCI) within integrated meat safety assurance system.