Boise State University

The vision is to fundamentally change early-stage disease diagnosis and treatment on a global scale.  Using engineered biochemical tools, the team integrates biology with physics, chemistry, materials science and computer science to pioneer a novel disease detection system.  The goal is to detect disease via DNA reaction networks that report the presence of disease-specific micro-RNAs (miRNAs) found in human blood.  To offer flexibility and scalability, the approach uses modular reaction networks that consist of a translator, cross-catalytic amplifier and reporter.  The translator module accepts a target miRNA as an input signal and outputs a specific DNA sequence, which then acts as the input into the amplifier module.  The multiplied output of the amplifier module drives the reporter module.  The reporter module generates a colorimetric change in vitro based on relative miRNA concentrations signifying a positive/negative signal for disease, analogous to the results of a disposable pregnancy test.  Alternatively, when operated in vivo, an additional feedback module may prevent disease onset and progression.  As miRNAs are linked to over 270 diseases, this concept is broadly applicable to human health.  If successful, this diagnostic tool may reduce mortality through early screening, even where medical equipment and resources are scarce.