Point-of-Care System for HTLV-1 Proviral Load Quantification by Digital Mediator Displacement LAMP.

This paper presents a universal point-of-care system for fully automated quantification of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) proviral load, including genomic RNA, based on digital reverse RNA transcription and c-DNA amplification by MD LAMP (mediator displacement loop-mediated isothermal amplification). A disposable microfluidic LabDisk with pre-stored reagents performs automated nucleic acid extraction, reaction setup, emulsification, reverse transcription, digital DNA amplification, and quantitative fluorogenic endpoint detection with universal reporter molecules. Automated nucleic acid extraction from a suspension of HTLV-1-infected CD4+ T-lymphocytes (MT-2 cells) yielded 8 ± 7 viral nucleic acid copies per MT-2 cell, very similar to the manual reference extraction (7 ± 2 nucleic acid copies).

Chair/bedside diagnosis of oral and respiratory tract infections, and identification of antibiotic resistances for personalised monitoring and treatment.

Global healthcare systems are struggling with the enormous burden associated with infectious diseases, as well as the incessant rise of antimicrobial resistance. In order to adequately address these issues, there is an urgent need for rapid and accurate infectious disease diagnostics. The H2020 project DIAGORAS aims at diagnosing oral and respiratory tract infections using a fully integrated, automated and user-friendly platform for physicians' offices, schools, elderly care units, community settings, etc.

Rapid molecular assays for the detection of yellow fever virus in low-resource settings.

Background: Yellow fever (YF) is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The causative agent, the yellow fever virus (YFV), is found in tropical and subtropical areas of South America and Africa. Although a vaccine is available since the 1930s, YF still causes thousands of deaths and several outbreaks have recently occurred in Africa.

Development of a panel of recombinase polymerase amplification assays for detection of biothreat agents.

Syndromic panels for infectious disease have been suggested to be of value in point-of-care diagnostics for developing countries and for biodefense. To test the performance of isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assays, we developed a panel of 10 RPAs for biothreat agents. The panel included RPAs for Francisella tularensis, Yersinia pestis, Bacillus anthracis, variola virus, and reverse transcriptase RPA (RT-RPA) assays for Rift Valley fever virus, Ebola virus, Sudan virus, and Marburg virus.

Centrifugal gas-phase transition magnetophoresis (GTM)--a generic method for automation of magnetic bead based assays on the centrifugal microfluidic platform and application to DNA purification.

Transportation of magnetic beads between different reagents plays a crucial role in many biological assays e.g. for purification of biomolecules or cells where the beads act as a mobile solid support.