A bio-nano approach to point-of-care testing of parasitic DNA in resource limited settings
Themes: Life Science & Health, Materials
Proof of principle
A TRL is a measure to indicate the matureness of a developing technology. When an innovative idea is discovered it is often not directly suitable for application. Usually such novel idea is subjected to further experimentation, testing and prototyping before it can be implemented. The image below shows how to read TRL’s to categorise the innovative ideas.
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Why?
Disease diagnostics in developing countries is a major problem because of limited healthcare facilities. This point-of-care device could analyse a sample for an infectious disease as easy and reliable as a pregnancy test.
How?
The CRISPR/Cas9 system is used on a point-of-care device to detect pathogenic DNA in a drop of blood. Once it does, it initiates a chain reaction to produce a visible colour reaction.
When?
The aim is to develop a complete system/device. Once the correct design of the molecular machine is found, users and producers of the device will be sought to enable production of a prototype and the final product.
Michel Bengtson MSc