New Ebola test aims to deliver results in an hour

The product design and development company is working with US non-profit enterprise and molecular diagnostics specialist Diagnostics For All to develop the low-cost point-of-care device, using a grant from Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

The goal of the project is to develop, produce and complete in field testing for the resulting technology within six months, producing a device that is simple to use and can deliver results quickly in areas where there may be little or no access to medical facilities or trained doctors, nurses and lab technicians.

To test for the presence of Ebola in blood, DNA from the virus needs to be extracted and replicated to amplify it, as there may not be that much of the virus in a single blood sample.

‘The test will extract the nucleic acid from the virus in a sample, replicate this and deposit the replicated nucleic acid onto a testing strip, where it can react with other ingredients to create a red positive line - if the person has Ebola - and a control line to show the device is working. It is similar to the process in a pregnancy test kit,’ explained David Chastain, programme manager at Cambridge Consultants.