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Scientists at
Leeds University
in
the UK say soon, testing for diseases such as cancer and
multiple sclerosis, could take as little as 15 minutes
and could be as simple as using a pregnancy testing kit.
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The team of scientists have developed a biosensor
technology that uses antibodies to detect biomarkers -
molecules in the human body which are often a marker for
disease - and they do it much faster than current
testing methods.
They say the technology could be used in doctors'
surgeries for more accurate referral to consultants and
in hospitals for rapid diagnosis.
Tests already conducted have shown
that the biosensors can detect a wide range of analytes (substances being
measured), including biomarkers present in prostate and
ovarian cancer, stroke, multiple sclerosis, heart
disease and fungal infections.
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The
team also believes that the biosensors are versatile
enough to test for diseases such as tuberculosis and
HIV.
The
technology is the result of a collaboration of European
researchers and commercial partners in a 2.7 million
Euro project called ELISHA and features new techniques
for attaching antibodies to innovative surfaces, and
novel electronic measurement methods that need no
reagents or labels.
ELISHA was co-ordinated by Dr. Paul Millner from the
Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of
Leeds, and managed by colleague Dr. Tim Gibson.
Dr.
Millner says they believe this to be the next generation
of diagnostic testing as it is now possible to detect
almost any analyte faster, cheaper and more easily than
the current accepted testing methodology.
Current blood and urine are tests for disease markers
takes an average of two hours to complete, is a costly
process and can only be performed by highly trained
staff.
The
Leeds team believe their new technology, which provides
results in 15 minutes or less - could be developed into
a small device the size of a mobile phone into which
different sensor chips could be inserted, depending on
the disease being tested for.
Dr.
Millner says they have designed simple instrumentation
to make the biosensors easy to use and understand, which
will work in a format similar to the glucose biosensor
testing kits that diabetics currently use.
Professor Séamus Higson, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
and Biosciences, Cranfield Health, and one of the
partners within the ELISHA programme, says the speed of
response this technology offers will be of great benefit
to early diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, and
will permit testing in de-localised environments such as
GP's surgeries.
A
tangent company - ELISHA Systems Ltd - has been
established by Dr. Gibson, commercial partners Uniscan
Instruments Ltd and Technology Translators Ltd to bring
the technology to the market.
Dr. Gibson says the analytes used in the research simply
scratch the surface of the potential applications - the
team have also shown that it can be used in
environmental applications, for example to test for
herbicides or pesticides in water and antibiotics in
milk.
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