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

我们都接触到可能导致我们身体不适的生物制剂，从从其他人传播的传染病，如流感，到受污染食物中的病原体。虽然我们的免疫系统很好地应对了许多感染，但其他感染可能会危及生命。不幸的是，疾病的早期症状不一定能确定病因，也不能帮助确定潜在的严重程度。我们通过采集样本并对其进行诊断测试来解决这一问题。传统上，这种测试是在有合格工作人员的实验室进行的。然而，由于将样本运送到实验室，这一过程可能会很慢；在资源匮乏的国家，可能根本没有实验室。解决方案在于高质量的快速测试设备，这些设备可以在家里运行，也可以在现场运行，而不需要特殊的培训。索菲马克有限公司就构思了这样一种下一代技术，并将把这笔公共资金用于关键的开发阶段。

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.