Gut microbiome paper test

Status quo: deep sequencing coupled with high-throughput bioinformatics, which are expensive, slow, and require significant technical expertise

Solution: RNA toehold switch that can bind and detect virtually any RNA sequence (molecular sensor)+ in vitro cell-free transcription–translation system that is freeze-dried onto paper disks

1. Design toehold switch sensors that detect the V3 hypervariable region of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) for each species
2. Improve specificity by designing toehold switch sensors for species-specific mRNAs from each bacterial species
3. Develop a method that semi-quantitatively measures the concentrations of target RNAs using NASBA and toehold switch sensors
4. Develop toehold switch sensors to detect host biomarkers

Paper-based tests

Composed of 2 main parts:

1. Cell-free synthetic biosensors: detect the presence of pathogen-derived RNA molecules and that couple detection events to the production of a colored or fluorescent indicator protein
2. Embedding of the biosensors in paper that can be freeze dried for long-term storage without refrigeration