Microfluidic capillary system for rapid differential diagnosis of sepsis

脓毒症是身体感染的严重阶段，可导致器官衰竭和死亡。根据世界卫生 根据世界卫生组织的数据，全世界有2000 - 3000万人受到败血症的影响，死亡率为35%。快速 脓毒症的诊断是至关重要的，因为治疗开始时每延迟一小时， 存活率平均下降7%。目前，培养患者样本、PCR和ELISA技术被使用 来诊断败血症然而，这些方法是耗时的（花费>5小时）、昂贵的，并且 要求合格的技术人员进行测试。降钙素原是脓毒症的特异性蛋白质生物标志物， 微生物感染，可以在患者的血液样本中测量。该提案描述了 开发一种新的诊断设备，可以快速，高灵敏度和低成本的测量， 在不到15分钟的时间内，血液中的降钙素原浓度。这种方法依赖于使用一种新颖的 自供电和自包含的微流体毛细管回路，以执行一步免疫测定。检测 将使用铕标记的检测抗体进行。一个大的斯托克斯位移提供了时间 分辨荧光测定法允许更灵敏地测量荧光。用于固定和 此外，亦会研究如何将抗体保存在处理液体的微芯片上。优化和 将使用掺入降钙素原抗原的血浆样品进行该平台的校准。这 这一努力允许引入一种廉价的降钙素原护理点测试， 血液，而不牺牲检测的灵敏度。

Sepsis is a severe stage of body infection that can lead to organ failure and death. According to World Health Organization, 20-30 million people are affected by sepsis worldwide-with a mortality rate of 35%. Rapid diagnosis of sepsis is crucial as each hour of delay in initiation of treatment is associated with an approximate mean decrease in survival of 7%. Currently, culturing the patient samples, PCR and ELISA techniques are used to diagnose the septic conditions. However, these methods are time consuming (takes >5 hrs), expensive, and require qualified technicians to perform the test. Procalcitonin is a specific protein biomarker for sepsis and microbial infections, which can be measured in patient's blood sample. This proposal describes the development of a new diagnostic device that allows rapid, highly sensitive, and low-cost measurement of procalcitonin concentration in blood in less than 15 minutes. this approach relies on the use of a novel self-powered and self-contained microfluidic capillary circuit to perform a one-step immunoassay. Detection will be carried out using Europium labelled detection antibody. A large Stokes' shift provided by the time resolved fluorometry allows more sensitive measurement of the fluorescence. Protocols for immobilization and preservation of antibodies on the liquid handling microchip will also be developed. Optimization and calibration of this platform will be carried out using plasma samples spiked with procalcitonin antigen. This effort allows the introduce an inexpensive procalcitonin point of care test using only finger prick of whole blood without sacrificing the sensitivity of the assay.