Patients suffering Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) symptoms in Emergency Rooms are subjected to cardiac marker testing. These """"""""cardiac markers"""""""" have great potential as early indicators of the presence of AMI when analyzed together for extended time periods. Traditional methods of detecting these protein concentrations such as Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) is expensive to perform, and only test one protein at a time. In a typical month, Hermann Hospital in Houston, TX submits over 9,500 samples for cardiac marker analysis. The average cost of performing these tests is $100 per sample, resulting in an expenditure of close to $1,000,000/month. With over 4,000 hospitals nationwide, this number extrapolates to an astonishing 48 billion dollars annually for cardiac marker testing. This data suggests the need for an inexpensive sensor, capable of in-house biological fluid analysis of all cardiac marker proteins: simultaneously. By combining the selective recognition element properties of Lynntech's patent-pending iprotein-imprinted conducting polymer, with a Field-Effect Transistor (FET) acting as the transducer, Lynntech, Inc. proposes to develop a hand-held, disposable cartridge sensor capable of determining the entire array of cardiac marker concentrations simultaneously. The proposed device would be a point-of-care AMI monitoring sensor, capable of relaying critical AMI cardiac markers (i.e. Myoglobin, Creatine Phosphokinase (CPK)-MB, Total CPK, CPK-MB isoforms, and Troponin I/T) statistics, thereby reducing the lag time between the onset of AMI symptoms and treatment. The proposed sensor platform circumvents the problems associated with other biological sensors such as signal drift, costs associated with expensive protein (antibody) ligands, lack of selectivity, sensitivity, biological molecule attachment to electrode surface and limited shelf-life. Lynntech has gathered a strong research team to help perform the tasks during the Phase I research effort by recruiting the help of Georgia Tech's Dr. Janata to assist in the area of FET technology and Dr. Roe, a research physician at The Duke Clinical Research Institute, to offer his expertise in cardiac marker testing. Within the $20 billion global market for in vitro diagnostics, the fastest-growing segments are """"""""cutting-edge"""""""" diagnostic test systems & technologies such as molecular diagnostics, non-invasive technologies, point-of-care testing, flow cytology, and nucleic acid testing.
