NASA SBIR 2007 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Operational Technologies Corporation
4100 N.W. Loop 410
San Antonio, TX 78229 - 4253
(210) 731-0015

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
John G Bruno
john.bruno@otcorp.com
4100 N.W. Loop 410, Ste. 230
San Antonio, TX 78229 - 4253
(210) 731-0015

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 6 to 7

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Astronauts lose significant bone mass during lengthy spaceflights. Although, no effective treatments or prophylactics have yet been defined, it is important to monitor bone loss during missions. As such, the sensor must be compact and facile to operate in spacecraft. Operational Technologies Corp. (OpTech) proposes to complete development of its successful Phase I competitive fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-aptamer assays for several bone loss markers and calcidiol. In Phase I, OpTech developed several rapid (15 minutes) specific competitive polyclonal FRET-aptamer assays with low nanogram/ml sensitivity. OpTech also cloned and sequenced 110 bone marker and calcidiol aptamers which will be individually screened in Phase II for optimal FRET assay performance. During Phase II, OpTech will shift its FRET to emit in the red (> 600 nm) to avoid the intrinsic fluorescence of urine and serum. OpTech will also lyophilize and package optimized FRET-aptamer assays for use with a bubble-free plastic cuvette and body fluid collection system. The assay system will be coupled to a modified version of the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Picofluor[TM] handheld battery-operated fluorometer customized to detect bone markers and calcidiol in body fluids. OpTech will deliver the packaged assays, handheld reader and software to NASA for testing.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
NASA would use this technology as a portable means for astronauts to sensitively self-monitor their bone loss or bone preservation treatments with one-touch ease from urine or serum samples. Monitoring of other clinical analytes such as glucose and environmental microbe monitoring in water supplies by astronauts would also be possible, if appropriate FRET-assays were developed.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Women and the elderly could use this system as a rapid and facile point-of-care (POC) diagnostic system to monitor osteoporosis and the efficacy of therapeutic regimens. The system might also be used to monitor bone repair following severe fractures or skeletal procedures related to plastic or reconstructive surgeries. In a broader sense, OpTech is developing FRET-aptamer assays for a wide array of analytes on Earth including foodborne pathogens and other bacterial, viral and clinical analytes.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Biomedical and Life Support Biophysical Utilization