Isothermal amplification methods for point-of-care veterinary molecular diagnostics: proof of concept

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This project seeks to make use of advances in isothermal amplification technologies and sample collection techniques, combined with temperature sensitive liposome technology to prove the concept of point-of-care (POC) molecular diagnostics capability in veterinary settings, including clinics, farms and abattoirs.Currently, molecular diagnostics for animals largely depends on PCR-based testing done at centralised specialist laboratories. The time between sample collection and molecular diagnosis is typically several days. This time lag could be reduced to less than 1 hour, while simultaneously preserving or improving on current standards of diagnostic sensitivity and test specificity. The innovation of this project includes uniting a set of relatively recent, but well-researched and established technological advances in a clever way that provides superior test performance with robustness and an easy-to-accomplish method.If the proof of concept is achieved, then this approach could be adapted to facilitate the detection of almost any pathogen of veterinary importance, very rapidly and at the POC. This would allow veterinarians to rapidly implement definitive therapy, for the benefit of animal welfare, antimicrobial resistance issues, owner satisfaction, and professional satisfaction in veterinary practice. The technology could find applications in diverse sectors including human health, meat hygiene, wildlife health monitoring and many more.