Simultaneous Immunoassay for Multiplex Enteric Pathogens (SIMEP)

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Shigella, Campylobacter, and Norovirus are significant causes of diarrhea and represent significant targets of military, industry, academic, and non-governmental vaccine programs. Thus, an efficient, cost-effective, serum-based multiplex assay platform that will identify vaccine candidates, determine immune responses, and serve as a potent diagnostic tool for epidemiological and clinical studies is needed. Maxwell Sensors Inc. proposes to develop a Simultaneous Immunoassay for Multiplex Enteric Pathogens (SIMEP) based on Barcoded Magnetic Bead (BMB) technology. The proprietary BMB incorporates 128 digital codes and, therefore, can simultaneously identify all diarrhea-causing enteric pathogens in a single sample. BMBs, which utilize digital technology instead of conventional analog methodology, offer unmatched decoding accuracy, excellent fluorescence detection precision and 128 barcodes for multiplex tests. Because of BMB simplicity, reliability, scalability, and exceptionally low cost, this proposed project intends to leverage the multiplex power of this technology to create an assay for simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens in sera.