Centrifuge-free plasma separation consumable for global point of care viral diagnostics

目前还没有合适的独立的POC方法来处理患者的血液样本，为医学诊断测试提供血浆。这意味着分析仅限于集中的实验室设施，这严重影响了结果和后续治疗的时间，以及医疗保健提供者的成本。该项目旨在利用一种一次性试剂盒的开发，这种试剂盒可以简单地处理患者手指刺血样本中的全血，为下游的血液传播病毒测试提供血浆。血浆可用于Genedrive®丙型肝炎(丙型肝炎)诊断测试，或任何其他供应商平台和使用血浆作为初始样本的诊断测试。提供一种可以在不依赖临床实验室设备的情况下处理血液的试剂盒，将对在资源不足的情况下提供许多分子诊断测试产生重大影响，因为在那里需要绝大多数传染病诊断。我们已经建立了一个基于大小排除的血浆病毒分离的工作原型，其中血细胞被捕获和更小的病毒颗粒(例如。丙型肝炎病毒)与血浆一起穿过一层膜。一次性使用装置的灵敏度在临床使用要求的范围内。这项技术有机会改变在资源有限的国家的分散环境中进行血液传播病毒诊断的方式，提供更好的患者护理和更及时的治疗，并最终对全球传染病方面的健康挑战产生积极影响。

Currently there are no suitable independent PoC methods for processing patient blood samples to provide plasma for medical diagnostic tests. This means analysis is restricted to centralised laboratory facilities and this significantly impacts time to result and subsequent treatment, and cost to the healthcare provider. This project seeks to capitalise on development of a single-use cartridge that can simply process whole blood from a patient finger-prick blood sample to provide plasma for downstream blood borne virus testing. Plasma can be used with Genedrive® diagnostic tests for hepatitis C (HCV), or any other vendor platforms and diagnostic tests that use plasma as a starting sample. Providing a cartridge that can process blood without relying on clinical laboratory equipment, will significantly impact the provision of many molecular diagnostic tests in low resource settings, where the vast majority of infectious disease diagnostics are required. We have established a working prototype for plasma virus separation based on size exclusion where blood cells are trapped and smaller viral particles (eg. HCV) move through a membrane with the plasma. The sensitivity of the single use device is within the ranges required for clinical use. This technology has the opportunity to change the way blood borne viral diagnostics are conducted in decentralised settings in resource limited countries, providing improved patient care and more timely therapy, and ultimately positively impacting on global health challenges in infectious diseases.