Development of a Point-of-care Assay for the Detection of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) Virus, a Militarily Important Pathogen of the CENTCO

The objective of this proposal is to develop point-of-care rapid test assay for the diagnosis of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. Selected surface membrane-bound glycoprotein antigens and the N-nucleoprotein from a number of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) strains will be prepared using powerful recombinant protein mass-production technologies. The purified recombinant antigens will be used to raise polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies quickly. The recombinant antigens and the corresponding antibodies will then be used for the preparation of nanoparticle conjugates. Subsequently, TransMembrane Biosciences’ partners, Pan Probe Biotech and Princeton BioMeditech will utilize these materials to construct point of care rapid test prototype(s) for the detection of CCHFV or IgM antibodies specific to CCHFV antigens in blood samples of patients.