Point of Care simple diagnostic for the causative agents of Schistosomiasis and Onchocerciasis

Neglected tropical diseases NTDs afflict more than billion people Individuals in underdeveloped countries are most at risk due to living conditions and lack of health care Onchocerciasis and schistosomiasis are two NTDS which cause devastating disease To effectively control and eliminate NTDs countries utilize mass drug administration MDA programs to treat those in vulnerable regions Unfortunately current diagnostic methods do not meet the needs of these programs Lynntech proposes to develop a user friendly label free low cost portable diagnostic device NTDx system to detect the causative organisms in human samples in low resource settings The NTDx system will be based on convective amplification cPCR of specific genes and a novel silicon nanowire SiNW detection method to produce a specific diagnostic signal Data will be accessible via Wi Fi The entire process will be self contained in a disposable cartridge and will take less than one hour Lynntech s NTDx system will enable non specialized operators in non traditional settings to perform sophisticated biological testing The automation provided by this system will significantly simplify and accelerate testing thus delivering an innovative analytical process into the hands of community and government workers