# Sensitive and quantitative malaria diagnostic using nanoscale porous silicon.

> **NIH NIH R21** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $188,936

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Recent malaria control efforts have yielded significant progress toward reducing the burden of this disease. A
25% reduction in malaria-related deaths was reported between 2010 – 2016. Despite this success, malaria still
represents a staggering global burden with more than 200 million people infected in 2018, resulting in more than
400,000 deaths. Moreover, recent data collected by the World Health Organization suggest that no additional,
significant progress has been made in reducing global malaria cases over the past few years. A key challenge
to eradicating malaria is diagnosing asymptomatic malaria patients who are unlikely to receive anti-malaria drugs
despite being able to cause transmission of the malaria parasite to others. At the same time, quantification of
malaria parasites in people expressing malaria symptoms is also of critical importance to finding patients who
are at high risk for cerebral malaria, which is often fatal, especially in children. Hence, compounded by increasing
insecticide and drug resistance, there is a critical need to develop new approaches for widely deployable malaria
rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) that are accurate over a large dynamic range, identifying both asymptomatic
patients and those at risk for cerebral malaria. Current RDTs cannot meet this need.
This proposal seeks to achieve important milestones towards the development of a porous silicon optical
diagnostic for malaria that can meet the aforementioned critical need in an easy-to-use and affordable platform.
We will first demonstrate highly sensitive and quantitative malaria biomarker (PfHRP2) detection using optical
readout of porous silicon films in a model system (Aim 1) and then demonstrate robust detection of the malaria
biomarker in blood (Aim 2). This work leverages the simplicity in measuring changes in the optical properties of
porous silicon that directly correlate to the quantity of protein captured in the pores, and the large internal surface
area of porous silicon within a small areal footprint that enables the efficient capture of significantly more malaria
biomarkers per finger-prick of blood than current RDTs. Key scientific innovations include grafting a bifunctional
polymeric brush from porous silicon to realize both a high density of capture probes for malaria biomarkers and
antifouling properties to ensure negligible non-specific binding when testing blood samples.
We have assembled a research team with expertise in optics and nanoscale porous biosensors (Weiss), surface
chemistry and antifouling coatings (Laibinis), and low resource diagnostic tools for infectious diseases (Adams)
to address the need for improved RDTs for malaria control and elimination. We expect our porous silicon optical
diagnostic to enable more informed treatment of malaria patients across a wide spectrum. Expected long-term
impacts include improved global surveillance for malaria resource allocation and elimination of malaria.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10307596
- **Project number:** 5R21AI156693-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sharon M Weiss
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $188,936
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-11-24 → 2023-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10307596

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10307596, Sensitive and quantitative malaria diagnostic using nanoscale porous silicon. (5R21AI156693-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10307596. Licensed CC0.

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