Nanotech diagnostics to test for diseases and track infection

This new EPSRC-funded Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC), led by UCL (University College London), will develop mobile health technologies that allow doctors to diagnose and track diseases much earlier than previously possible.

According to a statement, the IRC will pioneer low cost, easy to use diagnostic tests based on advances in nanotechnology for use in GP surgeries, pharmacies, elderly care homes, developing countries and at home.

The mobile tests aim to identify diseases with high sensitivity and specificity and give results within minutes from just a pin-prick of blood or a swab. Rapidly transmitting results into secure healthcare systems will alert doctors to potentially serious outbreaks with geographically linked information.

The UCL team are already developing a smart-phone-connected prototype test for HIV with industry partners OJ-Bio.

The IRC will also track reported symptoms of infection by searching internet sources including media reports, search engine queries and social networking sites to identify outbreaks before people attend clinics or from parts of the world that lack the resources for traditional public health surveillance.