Patients will be able to receive confirmed diagnosis at the doctor's office
From:
McMaster University
June
24, 2021 – Hamilton, Ontario -- The idea of visiting the doctor's office with
symptoms of an illness and leaving with a scientifically confirmed diagnosis is
much closer to reality because of new technology developed by researchers at
McMaster University.
Engineering, biochemistry and medical
researchers from across campus have combined their skills to create a hand-held
rapid test for bacterial infections that can produce accurate, reliable results
in less than an hour, eliminating the need to send samples to a lab.
Their proof-of-concept research,
published today in the journal Nature Chemistry, specifically
describes the test's effectiveness in diagnosing urinary tract infections from
real clinical samples. The researchers are adapting the test to detect other
forms of bacteria and for the rapid diagnosis of viruses, including COVID-19.
They also plan to test its viability for detecting markers of cancer.
"It's going to mean that patients
can get better treatment, faster results and avoid serious complications. It
can also avoid the unnecessary use of antibiotics, which is something that can
buy us time in the battle against antimicrobial resistance," says Leyla
Soleymani, the paper's co-corresponding author and an associate professor of
engineering physics.
"This will give doctors the science
to support what they already suspect based on their skills and
experience," says co-corresponding author Yingfu Li, a professor of
biochemistry and biomedical sciences.
The new DNA-based technology uses a
handheld device similar to a blood-glucose monitor. A microchip analyzes a
droplet of bodily fluid such as blood, urine or saliva, using molecules that
can detect the specific protein signature of an infection. The device, about
the size of a USB stick, plugs into a smartphone, which displays the result.
The invention combines electrochemical
engineering technology developed by Soleymani and her team with biochemical
technology developed by Li and his colleague Dingran Chang. They worked with
infectious disease clinician Marek Smeija, a professor of medicine who provided
samples from real patients, and with Todd Hoare, a professor of chemical
engineering.
"As scientists, we want to enable
things," says Li, "We are knowledgeable in different scientific and
engineering principles, and when you put them together to help people, that's a
special feeling. Having the chance to impact society is the reason we all do
this work."
Existing practice typically requires
sending samples to laboratories to be cultured, a process that can take days.
Providing immediate results to patients can reduce the spread of infection,
improve patients' quality of life and simplify the work of busy clinicians.
The new technology can distinguish
strains of the same bacteria that can be treated with antibiotics from others
that are resistant to antibiotics, a critical distinction that can help battle
the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance, or AMR.
"Clinicians identified testing
delays as a problem that needed to be resolved," says Soleymani, who holds
the Canada Research Chair in Miniaturized Biomedical Devices. "We wanted
to build a system that could give as much information as possible to the
physician during the patient's first visit."
The researchers are in the midst of
testing an adaptation of the same technology for the virus that causes
COVID-19, using samples from a Hamilton clinic.
"This technology is very versatile
and we're getting very close to using the same technology for COVID-19
testing," says Li, who is also a member of McMaster's Michael Groote
Institute for Infectious Disease Research.
The researchers are exploring regulatory
approvals and industry partnerships to get the technology into wide use as
quickly as possible, not only in Canada, but around the world, especially where
access to lab testing is limited or non-existent.
"I think this technology is a step
toward democratizing disease diagnosis and management," says lead author
Richa Pandey, a post-doctoral research fellow in Soleymani's lab. "This is
technology that can go anywhere in the world where testing is needed."
The research exemplifies the work of
Canada's Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats at McMaster
University, which brings together an international network of researchers,
government, industry, health care and other partners with the goal of finding
solutions to the current pandemic, while preparing for future global health
threats such as antimicrobial resistance.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/mu-nlr062221.php
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