Infectious Disease

Ross Durland and colleagues at AM Biotechnologies, LLC in the U.S. propose to develop X-aptamers for detecting and quantifying protein biomarkers for neglected diseases. X-aptamers are modified nucleic acids that tightly bind to specific targets and remain stable at high temperature and humidity. AM Biotech will enhance its process for rapidly identifying X-aptamers that will be integrated into a point-of-care platform for diagnosing many diseases.

Donald Chickering and a team at Seventh Sense Biosystems in the U.S. are developing its Touch Activated Phlebotomy (TAP) platform to enable one-step blood collection in a safe, painless, and convenient manner. The device uses an integrated system of microneedles and vacuum capture of a blood sample for downstream analysis. TAP has the potential to expand access to diagnostic testing into underserved and hard-to-sample populations, while also improving safety and ease of collection.

Robert (Bruce) Cary of Mesa Tech International, Inc. in the U.S. proposes to develop nucleic acid purification systems that use a novel configuration of lateral flow materials to bind and wash nucleic acids to yield amplification-ready samples. These devices could provide purified samples from clinical specimens within minutes without user intervention, instrumentation, electricity or costly materials.

Antonio Campos-Neto of The Forsyth Institute in the U.S. along with collaborators Nira Pollock of The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School and David Duffy of Quanterix Corporation, seek to validate seven M. tuberculosis proteins found in the urine of tuberculosis patients as biomarkers of active disease. The ultimate goal is to use the most promising markers to develop a non-invasive point-of-care test, which could be similar to a simple home-pregnancy test.

Robert Moritz and colleagues at the Institute for Systems Biology and Seattle Biomed in the U.S. will use ultra-sensitive targeted assay technology to identify, quantify, and validate a library of biomarker candidates specific to both active and latent TB infection. Moritz and his team hope to discover highly specific proteins that could help determine disease status at the point of care and inform appropriate treatment.

Urs Ochsner of SomaLogic, Inc. in the U.S. will lead a team to expand and test a library of SOMAmers (slow off-rate modified aptamers) to identify protein biomarkers that indicate active tuberculosis from a small sample of blood. SOMAmers, which are modified nucleic acid-based protein-binding agents, offer several advantages over the antibodies traditionally used in diagnostic tests including greater stability, lower cost, and no need for refrigeration.

David Alland of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in the U.S., in collaboration with Advantageous Systems (ADS), will develop a method that uses paramagnetic nanoparticles conjugated with capture antibodies to quickly extract M. tuberculosis bacteria from a patient's sputum sample. This simple extraction method can be applied to a broad range of detection technologies, enabling rapid tuberculosis detection.

John Belisle of Colorado State University in the U.S. will assess the feasibility of using small molecules created by the metabolic processes of host or pathogen cells, as well as lipids and fatty acids produced by the TB bacterium, as biomarkers of active disease.

David Anderson of the Macfarlane Burnet Institute in Australia will examine a unique aspect of the host antibody response that may better differentiate current and past tuberculosis infections. If successful, this approach could be readily incorporated in simple, disposable blood test formats that are currently used for diagnosis in resource-poor settings.

Dan Feldheim of the University of Colorado at Boulder in the U.S. and collaborators Bruce Eaton of the University of Colorado and Delphi Chatterjee of Colorado State University propose to develop new modified DNA aptamer affinity reagents for detecting urine biomarkers of M. tuberculosis active disease. These reagents could form the basis of low-cost, low-power diagnostic sensors for use in resource-limited settings.