This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is aimed at developing optofluidic technology for medical diagnostics. Optofluidics describes the combination of integrated optics with microfluidics in a single chip scale system. As such, optofluidic devices have great potential to create novel biomedical devices. Various promising approaches including optofluidic ring resonators, plasmonic nanohole membranes, or nanoscale photonic crystal resonators have been explored. Another possibility is to rely on the detection of molecular targets within a fluidic channel that also guides light. Such structures have the potential to result in fully self-contained, portable, planar detection systems. In this project, we will optimize and clinically validate such optofluidic channel structures to establish them as viable candidates for next-generation diagnostics. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it will result in a commercially viable detection platform for accurate and rapid point-of-care pathogen detection. This need is evident by the huge burden infectious diseases put on the financial and healthcare industries annually, and the potential for overwhelming pandemics or bioterrorism attacks. The proposed work will result in a rapid, accurate and broadly applicable pathogen detector platform that can be administered, for example, at hospitals, doctor offices, airports, seaports, border crossings, post offices, farms and eventually the home. In addition, the proposed work will make important contributions to the emerging field of optofluidics by expanding the capabilities of fully self-contained, planar optofluidic waveguide devices
