Towards point-of-care detection of biomarkers for neglected tropical diseases program

We develop Point-of-care diagnostic sensors in resource-limited settings. We chose to focus on Leishmaniasis, the second-largest parasitic killer in the world (approx. 200,000 - 400,000 infections each year) which is endemic in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa. Leishmaniasis is often misdiagnosed with other febrile illness such as malaria. Current rapid diagnostic tests are antibody-based and hence their accuracy varies across populations, cannot present test-of-cure and fail in case of relapse of the disease. Thus, we aim to address the diagnostic need by detecting DNA of the Leishmania parasite in human samples. We envision to develop a quick, affordable, miniaturized diagnostic device with “sample in-answer out” capabilities that can operate in resource-limited settings for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Our objective is to build a DNA sensor for point-of-need diagnosis for detection of pathogen’s DNA in bodily fluids (urine, blood, saliva, sweat etc.) and hence, in future, our approach can aid the diagnosis of all infectious diseases including malaria, HIV, TB.