This National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Program (CFDA 47.041) Project Grant award to Cornell University for $1,212,392 provides funding from August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2028 to design, fabricate, and integrate low-power optical, chemical, and thermal sensors, as well as programmable control circuits, into a modular robotic cilia metasurface platform. The project aims to develop a robotic system capable of sensing environmental changes and actuating fluid flows in microfluidic devices...
This $242,687 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Program project grant, awarded under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), aims to develop an ultrasensitive nanopore biosensing technology for point-of-care testing of infectious diseases. The key objectives are to: (1) create a highly sensitive, robust, and reproducible nanopore biosensor; (2) enable specific and sensitive biomarker detection through automated immunoprecipitation and novel signal transduction; and (3) demonstrate...
Cornell University received a $100,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program to develop a cell-free biosensing platform integrating transmembrane proteins. The award period is from July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. Specifically, the university will utilize recent advances in biotechnology and bioelectronics to establish a process for rapidly assembling customized transmembrane proteins into a biomimetic sensing device without...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $568,480 Project Grant under the Engineering (CFDA 47.041) program to The Regents of the University of Colorado, doing business as the University of Colorado, to conduct research on a novel biosensing concept for high-sensitivity measurement of cell mechanical biomarkers. The 3-year award, effective May 1, 2024, will investigate how biological cells with different mechanical properties interact with acoustic waves propagating along a substrate, and...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Program (CFDA 47.041) award of $470,955 to Cornell University aims to develop a microfluidic cell culture platform to study breast cancer-associated secondary lymphedema. The 5-year project seeks to comprehend the regulation of lymphatic structure and function in breast cancer, and discover new treatment approaches for the over 150 million lymphedema patients worldwide. The research involves creating engineered lymphatic vessel models to analyze...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering awarded a $442,106 Project Grant to Florida International University (FIU) on May 15, 2025 under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041). The grant supports the development of a new sensing mechanism and approach for a nanopore sensor that can provide ultrasensitive and selective detection of various small molecules, including small biomolecules and bioactive molecules, under physiological conditions. The key objectives are...
This $447,747 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Program (CFDA 47.041) to Trustees of Boston University will develop a novel plasmonic nanosensor system to detect two important classes of RNA molecules - microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers and SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA. The sensor platform uses DNA structures with nanoparticle probes that undergo conformational changes when binding to target RNAs, altering the plasmonic coupling signal which is detected via two-color...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award for $380,074, awarded on September 1, 2024, aims to develop a platform for instrument-free, easy-to-interpret quantitative analysis of molecular biomarkers. The project will produce a general methodology adaptable to a range of molecular targets, including potential new agents. The key products to be delivered include: A "yes/no" output for quantitative measurement, enabled through stoichiometry and negative cooperativity-based...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) awarded a $199,999 Project Grant to Clarkson University to develop a highly selective and sensitive biosensor for the rapid detection of the microcystin synthetase (MCY) gene, which is essential for the production of harmful microcystins during algal blooms. The overarching goal is to create a CRISPR-Cas12a-powered biosensing system coupled with a novel magnetic bead-based reporter to enable early warning of toxic algal...
The National Science Foundation awarded a $230,000 Project Grant to the Regents of the University of Minnesota under the Engineering federal grant program (CFDA 47.041) to develop a biosensing platform for rapid sorting, trapping, and analysis of extracellular vesicles and viral specimens. Over a three-year period ending in August 2025, the University will combine graphene electrodes and photonic waveguides to create a "waveguide-integrated graphene nano-tweezers" platform. This...