Continuous Airborne biological Threat MOnitoring System

"The COVID-19 pandemic was a stark reminder of the major impacts that new pathogen can generate and the difficulty in controlling their spread, particularly in the case of respiratory diseases. In a short period of time, the emergence of a new respiratory virus has had massive societal, economic and health consequences around the world. Furthermore, the weaknesses and lack of preparedness revealed by this pandemic may have increased the risk of a bioterrorist attack. To shorten the response time when a new pathogen emerges, technical and scientific challenges consist in being able to detect it in the environment and in particular in the air with regard to Respiratory virus, in order to take the appropriate health measures. In this context, the CATMOS project proposes the development of a breakthrough technology which should make it possible to quickly and selectively assess the presence of an airborne pathogen, to improve the control of emerging and re-emerging respiratory infectious diseases, both at the individual and collective levels. At present, there are virtually no systems that allow the concomitant collection and detection of airborne pathogens with monitoring capabilities. CEA developed such a technology, but the dedicated microfluidic cartridge that is able to collect bioaerosols and detect the presence of virus by RNA isothermal amplification cannot be reused. The key challenge for the continuous monitoring of bioaerosols is to avoid the consumption of costly reagents while maintaining high level of sensitivity. CATMOS proposes the development of an innovative and reusable sensor based on aptamer probes and ElectroChemiLuminescence (ECL) readout. Its integration in a microfluidic cartridge, previously developed in the ANR Flash Covid-19 to automate sampling and analysis, would enable the continuous monitoring of bioaerosols. A dual strategy is proposed for the development of the monitoring unit. First, based on mature technological bricks developed and patented by CEA-Leti in terms of aerocollection and microfluidic recovery of the sample, the project will focus on the technological development of a functional tracker that uses sandwich aptamer assays and ECL labelling to enable continuous monitoring of bioaerosols. Secondly the development and the implementation of more risky advanced strategies targeting 1) new collection surface to enable improved collection cycling and 2) label free ECL detection of the viruses to decrease the use of aptamers involved in the sandwich assay. With the WHO associated VirPath team, MIRCen (CEA), BCNA (Pasteur) and NSYSA (Univ. Bordeaux) teams will collaborate on the development of specific aptamers designed for the capture of Respiratory Syncytial Virus, the Influenza A/H3N2 virus and SARS-CoV-2 variant Xbb1.5 and labelled for a sensitive detection based on ECL. These keys reagents will next be immobilized and used in a silicon microfluidic chip designed and produced by CEA-Leti to be reusable. After its validation this sensor will be integrated into an adapted version of Leti's microfluidic cartridge that is able to collect and elute bioaerosols. The ultimate goal of the project is to validate such a beacon in a large volume test bench (30 m3, VirPath), in which calibrated atmospheres contaminated by the infectious Respiratory virus of interest are generated. Considering the continuum that goes from the emergence of zoonotic pathogens to their spread in human populations, the technology proposed in the present project will be developed for environmental monitoring. It ought to be deployable in any risk area to prevent dissemination among animals and the transmission to humans (""one health"" approach). This approach should make it possible to detect emergences as soon as possible, to circumscribe them geographically, to reduce their number, while making it possible to put in place barrier measures to protect animal species and humans. Such beacons should allow better preparation for the risk of epidemic or pandemic, including agents of bioterrorism. Such a technical development should contribute to acquire a sovereign capacity to deal with biological threats."