Novel Immunoassay for CVD and Neurological Biomarkers, Delivered with Additive Layer Manufacturing Processes

遗传微设备有限公司开发了一种小型设备——QbQ芯片，它可以以前所未有的灵敏度、速度和成本分析血液中的蛋白质。该芯片可以在不到15分钟的时间内检测到微量的疾病生物标志物，其成本与横向流动分析相似。一旦QbQ测试芯片可用，它将彻底改变即时检测。它将使检测血液中携带生物标志物的疾病成为可能，比目前可能的要早得多。例如，早期发现痴呆症可以大大改善治疗效果，因为第一次有药物可以从阿尔茨海默氏症的病因上治疗，减缓神经变性。同样，在心血管疾病中，检测血液中呈上升趋势的低水平生物标志物可以为未来的疾病创造更准确的风险概况。癌症生物标志物也是如此，早期检测是治疗结果的绝对关键。然而，更早发现疾病的能力必须伴随着每次检测的高速度和低成本。因为只有这样，NHS的筛查过程才能变得可行。QbQ系统已经在我们的实验室中证明了其优越的性能。接下来要做的是创造一种接近商业形式的小型台式机器，并与我们的合作者一起在两项试验中验证它：一项用于心血管疾病，一项用于痴呆症。一旦这项技术得到验证，它将准备好在学术环境中早期部署，以加速开发针对痴呆症、心血管疾病、癌症和许多其他疾病的先进诊断面板。最终，我们将进一步将这些工具开发成经过全面认证的诊断工具。届时，QbQ将被放置在医院、大学、药店和全科医生那里，用于广泛的疾病检测。该项目是深度合作的，它汇集了遗传微设备、大奥蒙德街儿童健康研究所和过程创新中心。丰富的专业知识确保了向患者提供最佳技术。

Genetic Microdevices Ltd has developed a small device - the QbQ chip- that can analyse proteins in blood with unprecedented sensitivity, speed and cost. The chip can detect minute amounts of disease biomarkers in less than 15 minutes for a cost that resembles that of Lateral Flow Assays. Once the QbQ test chip becomes available it will revolutionise Point-of-Care testing. It will enable detection of conditions that carry biomarkers in blood, much earlier than is currently possible. For example early detection of Dementia can massively improve therapeutic outcome, since for the first time there are drugs available that treat Alzheimer's at its cause to slow down neurodegeneration. Similarly in Cardiovascular disease, detecting low levels of biomarkers that are trending up in blood can create a much more accurate risk profile for future illness. The same is true for cancer biomarkers where early detection is absolute key for therapeutic outcome. However the ability to detect disease much earlier must be accompanied by high speed and low cost per test. Because only then, can screening processes in the NHS become viable.The QbQ system has already demonstrated its superior performance in our lab. What remains to be done is to create a small benchtop machine that is close to a commercial form and validate it with our collaborators in two assays: One for cardiovascular disease and one for dementia.Once the technology is validated it will be ready for early deployment in academic settings to accelerate development of advanced diagnostic panels for Dementia, CVD, Cancer and many other conditions. Ultimately we shall further develop those tools into fully certified diagnostic tools for the Point-of-Care. At that point the QbQ will be placed in hospitals, universities, pharmacies, and GP's for testing of a wide spectrum of conditions.The project is deeply collaborative, it brings together Genetic Microdevices, The Great Ormond Street Institute for Child Health and Centre for Process Innovation. This wealth of know-how ensures optimal delivery of the technology to the patient.