I-Corps: Point-of-Care Microfluidic Device for Rapid Pathogen Detection

I-Corps项目的广泛影响/商业潜力源于对低成本护理点(POC)微型设备的迫切需求，该设备用于在低资源环境中快速检测病原体感染，如百日咳。百日咳是唯一可通过疫苗预防的感染，在美国仍是地方病。传统的病原体检测方法要么耗时长，要么需要昂贵而笨重的仪器，限制了它们在低资源环境中的应用。新的微流控设备可以在护理地点提供低成本、快速和准确的百日咳检测，使农村诊所和其他场所的百日咳POC快速和准确检测成为可能。该微流控装置还可用于检测各种其他病原体，例如食源性病原体。这个i-Corps项目的主要目的是将用于POC病原体检测的微型设备商业化。核心技术是基于低成本纸/聚合物混合微流控装置上的集成DNA等温放大。肉眼无需仪器的检测将仪器需求降至最低，而DNA扩增和针对目标的6个引物分别确保了高检测灵敏度和高准确度。这些重要功能允许低成本、快速(45分钟)和准确的POC检测低来源环境中的病原体。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project stems from the critical need for a low-cost point-of-care (POC) microdevice for rapid detection of pathogen infections, such as whooping cough, in low-resource settings. Whooping cough is the only vaccine-preventable infection that remains endemic in the US. Conventional pathogen detection methods either take a long time or require costly and bulky instruments, limiting their applications for low-resource settings. The new microfluidic device can provide low-cost, rapid and accurate detection of whooping cough at the point of care, enabling rapid and accurate POC detection of whooping cough in rural clinical settings and other venues. The microfluidic device may also be used to detect a variety of other pathogens, such as foodborne pathogens. This I-Corps project is primarily intended to commercialize the microdevice for POC detection of pathogens. The core technology is based on integrated DNA isothermal amplification on a low-cost paper/polymer hybrid microfluidic device. The instrument-free detection by the naked eye minimizes instrumentation requirements, while DNA amplification and 6 primers specific to the target ensure high detection sensitivity and high accuracy, respectively. These significant features allow for low-cost, rapid (45 min), and accurate POC detection of pathogens in low-source settings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.