Poster Presentations
|
Comparison of isothermal amplification methods using HyBeacon probes for point-of-care detection of Chlamydia trachomatis
Rebecca Howard, , LGC Ltd.
Genital Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common sexually-transmitted infection diagnosed and treated in the UK. Incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis is also on the rise, with recorded cases rising over twofold to over 120,000 between 1999 and 2008.
A particular issue experienced by genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics is the failure of patients to return to the clinic both for test results and antibiotic treatment. Rapid point-of-care testing in clinic may be the solution to this problem.
If a point-of-care test is to be widely accepted, it should be homogeneous, simple to use and able to fit into existing workspaces and processes. The system should therefore be capable of detection using existing sample types and give easy-to-interpret results in as short a time as possible.
Isothermal amplification methods have been considered for this application due to their comparatively simple instrument requirements. We have evaluated three isothermal methods, each selected for its theoretical compatibility with HyBeacon probes and the Genie II instrument to create an in-clinic point-of-care solution for the diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis.
Plasmon integrated Optimized DVD substrates: A Label-free and low-cost scheme with a high level of minituarization for the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis
Burak Turker, PhD Student, Bilkent University, Afyon Kocatepe University
In this work we transform a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) into a bio-molecular affinity sensor for the label free detection of DNA interaction. Detection scheme is based on the excitation of surface plasmons [1] via grating coupling [2]. Optimized DVD substrates are utilized for the enhanced coupling of plasmons and a low-power 632.8 nm laser diode is deployed for the excitation. Plasmon enhanced transmission is employed as a sensitive refractive index (RI) sensing mechanism and the slight RI changes resulting in a shift at the resonance peaks are detected by a solar cell sub-layer in the form of transmitted light intensity. The sensing mechanism has a novel planar sandwich structure consisting out of three integrated functional layers [3]. At the bottom there exists the solar cell layer to detect transmitted energy in terms of photocurrent. In between there is the optimized DVD substrate to serve as a grating coupler [4]. Upmost layer is an integrated fluidic chamber where the bio-molecular interactions take place. Using this highly miniaturized integrated sensing mechanism we demonstrate the label free detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) complex [5]. The proposed sensing mechanism offers a straightforward, low-cost and easy-to-implement fabrication procedure with very promising sensitivity and sensor responses [4]. The detection scheme can find applications in integrated lab-on-chip designs where label free detection is desirable.
|
|
