Infectious and respiratory infections, in particular, are the leading cause of death worldwide. There is therefore an urgent need for rapid, large-scale diagnostic tools that can detect these diseases early, which currently do not exist. To address these issues, McGill University bioengineering professor Sarah Mahsid’s lab has developed an all-in-one detection platform (QolorEX) that can deliver test results in as little as 13 minutes.
For use in hospitals, schools, airports, and other places where people gather, the test takes a saliva sample (no cotton swabs required), transfers it to a microfluidic device, and uses machine learning to automatically take microscopic images. To do. sample. These images are sent to a mobile phone application where the data is decoded into test results.
“With more pandemics likely to occur in the future, our lab will be a portable, low-cost laboratory with actionable clinical results that can be used in low-resource, home, or communal settings. We aim to build cost-effective technology,” Mahsid and her students say.PhD Candidates Tamer Abdel Fattah and Mahasa Jalali, co-authors of a recently published paper natural nanotechnology
“This platform has been shown to show 95% accuracy, comparable to quantitative PCR, for COVID-19 testing using saliva samples, and can be used to monitor emerging viral infections and variants as well as bacteria. Thanks to its accessibility, it can increase the number of tests performed, potentially leading to early diagnosis, saving lives and reducing respiratory disease worldwide. We may be able to curb the epidemic,” added Mahashid, who is also the Canadian research chair for nano-biosensing devices.
For more information:
Tamer AbdElFatah et al, Nanoplasmonic amplification in microfluidics accelerates colorimetric quantification of pathogen-derived nucleic acid biomarkers. natural nanotechnology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-023-01384-5
