Next generation point-of-care diagnostic platform for the detection of biological agents down to the strain level

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We are all exposed to biological agents which may cause us to be unwell, from infectious diseases transmitted from other people such as flu, to pathogens in contaminated food. While our immune systems cope well with many infections others may be life-threatening. Unfortunately the early symptoms of an illness do not necessarily pinpoint the cause and help to establish the potential severity. We address this by taking samples and subjecting them to diagnostic tests. Traditionally this testing has taken place in laboratories with qualified staff. However, this can be slow owing to the transport of the sample to the laboratory; in low-resource countries a laboratory simply may not be available. The solution lies in high-quality rapid test devices which can be run at home or 'in the field' without the need for special training. Sophimark Ltd has conceived of just such a next-generation technology and will use this public funding for a key development stage.