NEW YORK — SomaLogic and academic collaborators have received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop new quantum sensing-based methods for proteomic screening, the company said on Tuesday.
With the grant, awarded under the NSF's Convergence Accelerator Program, the scientists aim to develop a low-cost modified aptamer-binding assay on a diamond surface using quantum sensing for simultaneous detection of over 7,000 proteins in a biological sample such as blood or urine.
The new technology would enable the identification of specific protein patterns that reflect an individual's current health, future disease risk, and the impact of behavioral or therapeutic interventions, SomaLogic said.
Recipients of the grant include researchers at the University of Chicago; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and the University of Washington.
"Creating a cost-effective and potentially reusable protein chip based on quantum sensors would increase sample throughput and greatly reduce the current costs of proteomic analysis," Jason Cleveland, a SomaLogic researcher and co-principal investigator of the grant, said in a statement. "This would open the door to a new generation of biomedical devices that enable protein-based health screening at point of care, including the home."