Rapid Malaria Diagnosis
Researcher at the ETH’s Functionals Materials Lab and diaxxo AG supported the development of a cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test for rapid malaria diagnosis and surveillance. This work was recently published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health.
Malaria remains a significant global health challenge, with limited access to highly sensitive diagnostic tests being a major challenge to effective surveillance. A international team from the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Italy and Switzerland addressed this issue by integrating a sensitive nucleic acid amplification test for rapid malaria parasite detection into diaxxo's PCR cartridges. Running on diaxxo’s qPCR instrument, these cartridges can deliver accurate diagnoses in under 30 minutes. Diaxxo is a FML spin-off, which commericialises ETH technology.
The data from the published study indicate that this technology can achieve diagnostic performance comparable to standard laboratory-based RT-qPCR setups. This technology has the potential to revolutionize malaria surveillance by making high-quality and cost-effective molecular data accessible through the decentralization of surveillance activities, particularly in malaria elimination settings.
For more information, please refer to the external pagefull article in PLOS Global Public Health.