Point of Care Diagnostics

Point of care testing for infectious disease has enormous potential benefits for the developing world. Rapid, inexpensive, simple, and functional tests are needed to better treat patients and quell potential pandemics, especially in rural locales where many people cannot even afford to return to the doctor to get lab results or treatment. I am working on a method for molecular detection that has all of the necessary requirements to serve as a point of care immunodiagnostic device in the developing world. The detection technique uses a simple electrical principle to determine the presence of disease specific molecules, thereby eliminating the expensive and conventional optical components normally associated with immunoassays. We have demonstrated the feasibility using glass microfluidic devices with biotinylated beads by capturing avidin out of a sample with a sensitivity of 100 pg/ml. These initial results suggest that this technique could be used to efficiently diagnose disease at the point of care with high sensitivity.

This technology has earned some recent accolades including winning the UC Berkeley Technology Breakthrough Competition, as well as winning the Silicon Valley Boomer Ventures business plan competition. I also spent a month in Ecuador investigating the feasibility of implementing this device into the developing world. The focus was on diagnosing dengue fever in the remote regions within Ecuador. This trip was meant to serve as a case study for understanding the usage and implementation of point of care diagnostic devices in the developing world. Here is a link to a press article as well as a link to our Ecuador blog. The blog was written more to entertain than to educate. I will be happy to supply a report of our trip to Ecuador - just send an email to the address listed below.