Multiplexed Assay for the Detection of Wound-related Pathogens

Wound-related pathogens (WRPs) are a major challenge affecting the care of injured soldiers. Infection caused by WRPs leads to morbidity and can lead to mortality if appropriate care is not administered in a timely fashion. Therefore, rapid identification of wound related bloodstream infections in the field is critical for early medical treatment decisions. Few options exist for field-deployable medical diagnostic instrumentation to rapidly detect WRPs before associated infections become systematic. Current methods for WRP diagnostics require trained technicians and a dedicated laboratory space to perform the necessary assays and cultures. In order to ensure that treatment is provided as rapid as possible, methods that will enable compact, highly multiplexed testing of genetic information be it human or microbial in a field deployable device is required. To this end, Nanohmics, working in collaboration with Atactic Technologies, proposes to develop a multiplex genetic diagnostics platform for Wound-Related Pathogen (WRP) detection that operates on the principle of label free, direct electrical detection of nucleic acids.