Functional lateral flow arrays for the identification of multiresistant germs
Antibiotic resistance among pathogens is becoming increasingly common. Multi-resistant pathogens in particular are causing major problems for the healthcare system. In order to be able to treat infections with these pathogens, they must be identified. In the best case scenario, diagnosis should be quick and easy, directly at the point of patient care (point-of-care), and should not require a great deal of laboratory work.
The project therefore aims to develop (multi-)functional multiplex lateral flow microarrays for point-of-care analysis of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. With the selected technology, up to approximately 90% of cost-intensive reagents can be saved, making it possible to better tap in particular the price-sensitive market of clinical diagnostics.
Furthermore, the selected platform makes it possible to establish quality controls, such as calibration measuring points, standard curve measuring points and technical replicates of samples per test strip, in the same test set parallel to the actual analyte content determination. The evaluation of the test strips is to be made possible via a smartphone app implemented specifically for this purpose in the project.