Q-TB: Rapid, cheap POC diagnostic and drug susceptibility testing for human tuberculosis

Q-TB项目解决了与结核病作斗争的一些基本问题。首先（速度和质量），该项目将提供一种技术，使患者能够在几分钟内获得转诊标准的分子诊断结果，因为他们与他们的治疗医生一起等待。其次（便携式），如果患者在农村地区，如南非的乡镇，或秘鲁的山区，或亚洲的偏远地区，附近没有电力、实验室、诊所或医院，装置的尺寸（大约80年代的“砖”移动的电话的大小）和电池操作将使即使是技术人员或卫生工作者（易于使用）进行复杂的诊断。第三（耐药性），该设备可以一次测试许多不同的东西，该项目将开发用于诊断结核病和测试哪些药物最适合治疗这种疾病的测试。这一复杂的检测系统得益于QuantuMDx的新颖和高科技纳米技术，可以在10-15分钟内完成复杂的检测，而通常需要几个小时到几天，Microsens在处理复杂样本（如痰液）方面的专业知识，以及伦敦圣乔治医院的深入结核病知识和检测经验，斯泰伦博斯大学的世卫组织结核病小组，南非和世界各地的一些慈善机构和非政府组织。

The Q-TB project addresses some fundermental issues in the fight against tuberculosis. Firstly (SPEED & QUALITY) the project will deliver a technology that will enable patients to receive referral standard molecular diagnostic results within minutes, as they wait with their treating physician. Secondly (PORTABLE), if the patient is in a rural loctation, such as a township in South Africa, or in a mountain location in Peru, or in a remote part of Asia with no electricity, laboratory, clinic, or hospital nearnby, the size of the device (approximately the size of a 80's 'brick' mobile phone) and battery operation will enable even a technican or health worker (EASE OF USE) to perform a complex diagnosis. Thirdly (DRUG RESISTANCE), the device can test for many different things at once and this project will develop tests for both diagnosis of tuberculosis and test which drugs will work best to treat the disease. This complex testing system benefits from QuantuMDx's novel and hi-tech nanotechnologies that can perform complex tests in 10-15 minutes, when normally they hours to days, the expertise of Microsens in processing complex samples such as sputum, and the in depth tuberculosis knowlegde and testing experience of St Georges' Hospital, London, WHO TB group at Stellenbosch Univeristy, South Africa and several charities and NGOs throughout the world.