Sandia National Labs FY20 LDRD Annual Report

FY20 ANNUAL REPORT

FY19 ANNUAL REPORT

a handheld chemical analysis system called µChemLab helped spur the growth of Sandia’s now enduring capability in biological science and technology. Additional investments from LDRD, government, and technology partnerships over the next two decades led to improvements in detection capabilities for national security and medical applications. One LDRD-enabled technology – SpinDX – came out of a need to rapidly identify trace levels of biotoxins to combat terrorism. After initial LDRD investments in 2009, SpinDX continued to receive funding from multiple sponsors, including the U.S. Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, and National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to address critical issues in biodefense and healthcare. Numerous companies have licensed SpinDX as a platform for point-of-care diagnostics testing, water pathogen testing, and other applications. Investments in SpinDX continue to pay dividends through the issuance of seven patents and eight commercial licenses, the development of new partnerships, and the expansion of novel applications beyond what was first envisioned beginning with the original LDRD in 2010. Notably, in 2020, Sandia began using SpinDX for rapid detection of viral antigens and SARS-CoV-2 antibodies during the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, SpinDX was able to offer healthcare professionals a powerful way to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 at all SpinDX is a portable, medical diagnostic platform that uses a disposable, centrifugal disc with microfluidic flow paths to manipulate a biological sample. This allows multiple tests to be carried out on a single sample with no preparation required. The device operates by distributing drops of raw, unprocessed stages of the disease. How does SpinDX work?

samples into different channels that function as dozens of tiny test tubes. When the disc spins, the samples interact with test reagents inside the channels. If there is a chemical interaction between the sample and the reagent, the tip of the channel will produce a fluorescent glow indicating an infectious agent is present. The data is then transferred to a software interface that displays the test results. Conventional viral testing requires both heating and cooling of a biological sample multiple times to multiply any viral DNA or RNA (an important biological macromolecule detectable levels. An early version of SpinDX used conventional viral testing to perform protein tests that searched for pathogen- specific proteins and antibodies. To make viral testing more efficient, Sandia developed an assay and detection scheme that allows the sample to be heated only once. The newest version of SpinDX does this by using a tiny infrared heat emitter that hovers at the top of the device, targeting a part of the spinning disc to heat the sample. Using this method, SpinDX can conduct nucleic acid tests that identify causative pathogens (viruses and bacteria) as well as pathogen-specific proteins. Read more about SpinDX here. Watch the YouTube video. coronavirus pandemic. As a result, SpinDX was able to offer healthcare professionals a powerful way to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 at all stages of the disease. “ “ that functions to convert the genetic information of DNA into proteins) to Notably, in 2020, Sandia began using SpinDX for rapid detection of viral antigens and SARS-CoV-2 antibodies during the

22

LABORATORY DIRECTED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT