P193 Development of a handheld point of care molecular diagnostic device for sexually transmitted infections. (18th May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mackay, Ruth; Craw, Pascal; Branavan, Manoharanehru; Sadiq, Tariq; Balachandran, Wamadeva
• Is Part Of: Sexually transmitted infections. Volume 91(2015)Supplement 1
• Page Start: A80
• Page End: A80
• Publication Date: 2015-05-18
• Subjects: Sexually transmitted diseases -- Periodicals; HIV infections -- Periodicals; 616.951005
• DOI: 10.1136/sextrans-2015-052126.237
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-4973

Abstract

Abstract : Background/introduction: Brunel DoCLab is part of the e STI2 Consortium which is developing electronic self-testing and portable instruments for sexually transmitted infections using nucleic acid amplification test technologies. We have designed a point of care test platform that integrates a proprietary sample collection device directly with a microfluidic cartridge. A low cost benchtop real-time isothermal amplification platform has been developed capable of running six amplifications simultaneously. Aim(s)/objectives: To evaluate the sample preparation and isothermal amplification within the low cost diagnostic platform. Methods: The microfluidic device incorporates passive mixing of the lysis-binding buffers and sample. Cell lysis, within the cartridge, is conducted using a chemical method and nucleic acid purification is done on an activated cellulose membrane. Isothermal amplification was conducted using recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA). Results: Preliminary results have shown extraction efficiencies for this new membrane of 69% and 57% compared to the commercial Qiagen extraction method of 85% and 59.4% for 0.1 ng/µL and 100 ng/µL salmon sperm DNA respectively spiked in phosphate buffered solution. Extraction experiments in the passive mixer cartridges with lysis and nucleic acid purification showed extraction efficiency around 80% of the commercial Qiagen kit. The platform is capable of detecting Chlamydia trachomatis genomic DNA within 10 min using RPA for 100, 000 copies/µL. Discussion/conclusion: The work presented here shows a low cost, rapid nucleic acid extraction, isothermal amplification and detection platform for diagnosing C. trachomatis. Work is on-going to fully integrate the sample-in to result platform for rapid diagnosis of STIs using genital samples.