Current methods for the detection of diagnostic proteins entail time- and resource-intensive immunochemical techniques that, even under ideal circumstances, require an hour or more to return an answer to the clinician's hands. This sluggish response fits poorly into the timeframe of modern healthcare, hindering patient compliance and, in some circumstances, the efficiency and safety with which drugs and procedures are administered. (Consider: a diagnostic test that returns an answer in less than 15 minutes differs qualitatively from a test that requires 30 minutes because the latter requires a second interaction with the clinician.) Here we propose the development of a rapid, point-of-care method for the simultaneous detection of multiple diagnostic proteins. Our approach, which utilizes electrochemistry to monitor the binding-induced folding of polypeptide- or protein-based recognition elements, will be rapid, specific, convenient and, critically, selective enough to employ directly in blood serum and -we propose- whole blood. And while our initial development efforts will focus on the detection of proteins diagnostic of HIV infection (such as anti-HIV antibodies), the approach will be general enough to be of use in the detection of a wide range of clinically relevant markers. The development of rapid, parallelizable point-of-care diagnostics could significantly impact the safety, compliance and efficacy of therapies and medical procedures ranging from the detection of infectious diseases, the treatment of autoimmune diseases, and the routine monitoring of health status.
Here we proposed the development of a reagentless, electrochemical platform for the simultaneous detection of multiple proteins diagnostic of disease. The proposed technology will be rapid, specific, and selective enough to employ directly at the point of care, thus significantly improving the speed with which molecular diagnostics can be performed and their results acted upon. This, in turn, will improve the safety, compliance and efficacy of therapies and procedures ranging from the detection of infectious diseases, the treatment of autoimmune diseases, and the routine monitoring of health status.
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