Ultra-Sensitive Non-Invasive Point-of-Care Immunosensor for Malaria

Stephen Rogerson from the University of Melbourne in Australia will develop a low-cost diagnostic using an electrical immunosensor platform that can detect very low levels of the malaria parasite in blood and saliva samples to aid malaria-elimination efforts. The platform detects changes in electrical impedance caused by the binding of two molecules, and they postulate that it can improve the limit of detection of current related diagnostic tests by up to 1000 fold. They will develop planar dielectric immunosensors for the malaria-causing Plasmodium parasite by coating the sensors with molecules that bind two specific parasite proteins. The sensitivity and specificity of the sensors will be evaluated using infected blood and saliva samples.