Rapid, accurate detection of pathogens is critical for public health and safety, but many current methods of detection have shortcomings, such as requiring the use of expensive instruments or controlled temperature environments. Currently, the most accurate results are from molecular tests, but these can take over 24 hours. Antigen tests are much more rapid, but tend to be less accurate.

In this study, we tested a new detection method with the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as a biosensor platform. The MOF biosensor system consists of the MOF and the probe, which is sequence specific to the virus of interest. When the system is exposed to the virus, the probe will be released from the MOF surface and measured via fluorescence.

Previously, we synthesized crystalline and amorphous Cu dithiooxamide MOF phases and tested viral sequences for HIV and Influenza A and B, but found that our results varied across trials. Subsequently we found that the synthetic method could not consistently reproduce the crystalline MOF phase. By changing the synthetic conditions, we were able to consistently obtain the crystalline phase and then tested these samples with Influenza A and B, showing that the MOF/probe system could be successfully used for rapid detection of Influenza A and B specific viral sequences.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.