I-Corps: Point of Care Diagnostic Device for Zika Virus

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力源于对改进的床旁诊断设备的迫切需求，特别是那些用于寨卡病毒感染的设备。 开发的新测试可以在不到一个小时的时间内获得结果，从而减轻患者和临床医生的负担，并改善治疗和结果。新的测试将有可能改善寨卡病毒感染者的生活，并将影响目前的几种临床治疗方案，并可能提出新的治疗方案。 核心技术的应用还可能包括其他类型的传染病诊断。这个I-Corps项目将是将一种新型、创新和快速的寨卡病毒感染诊断测试商业化的第一步。 其核心技术是基于分子印迹。 这种方法允许构建非常稳定的生物分子的精确模型，因此可以在不冷藏的情况下储存。 在该项目中，核心技术用于创建针对寨卡病毒的稳定抗体模型。 该设备将检测抗体与管型的结合，因此可以检测抗体是否存在于患者的血液中，这将表明感染。该技术是第一个基于印迹大分子（如寨卡抗体）的诊断测试。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project stems from the critical need for improved point-of-care diagnostic devices particularly those for Zika virus infections. The new tests developed could allow results to be available within less than one hour, thereby reducing burden on patients and clinicians, and improving treatment and outcomes. The new tests will potentially improve the lives of people suffering from Zika infections and will impact several current clinical treatment regimes and may suggest new treatment options. Applications for the core technology could also include other types of infectious disease diagnostics.This I-Corps project will be the first step in commercializing a new, innovative and rapid diagnostic test for Zika virus infections. The core technology is based on molecular imprinting. This method allows building exact casts of biological molecules that are extremely stable and therefore can be stored without refrigeration. In this project the core technology is used to create stable casts of antibodies to Zika virus. The devices will detect binding of the antibodies to the casts and therefore can detect if the antibodies are present in a patient's blood, which would point to an infection. The technology is the first diagnostic test based on imprinting large molecules like the Zika antibody.