Olivia Mann-Delany, PhD candidate, Faculty of Arts & Science

Supervised by Landon J. Edgar, Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Helen Tran, Faculty of Arts & Science

Project Title: Biosensing of Influenza A using carbohydrate-based polymers

Project Summary: One billion people become infected with the respiratory infection Influenza, annually. Influenza A (IAV) is the most prevalent influenza virus and upon a jump from avian species to humans caused four global pandemics to date. Determining whether a variant can undergo human transmission is an essential method for pandemic preparedness. Unfortunately, standard PCR testing can only detect the presence of a virus, not its potential for human transmission. I will overcome this diagnostic limitation by fabricating a biosensor that can selectively detect IAVs capable of human transmission, thereby identifying pandemic concerns earlier than present methods. Surface receptors on avian and human IAVs have distinct biological targets. In the human epithelial airway, the target is a cell-surface carbohydrate that human IAVs bind to cause infection. Using chemical approaches, I synthesized a biopolymer analogous to this carbohydrate for implementation into an electronic sensor. When a human IAV encounters and binds the biopolymer, its negatively charged shell elicits a repulsive force against the device interface that can measured. These electronic sensors are designed to be highly sensitive, and able to detect sample binding events at extremely low concentrations. This technology will be applied to test emerging IAVs for their ability to infect humans and cause pandemics.