This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project builds the foundation for a fully automated and portable multiplex diagnostic analyzer (xPAK). Today, the rising costs of healthcare and hospital stays combined with the new technological frontiers and the greater expectations from the patients to receive more efficient and convenient medical services is leading to an unprecedented expansion of the Point-Of-Care Testing (POCT) market. Most current POCT devices are disease specific and offer limited multiplex capability. Therefore, there is a need to develop a portable and automated diagnostic instrument that will be capable of performing a large number of bioassays from the same sample. The Phase I proposal seeks to develop a microsphere simulator and the algorithms that will enable to development of a chip-scale flow cytomer (xCHIP), which is the core technology of this portable diagnostic instrument. At the end of phase II, the xChip analyzer module will be combined with a front-end automation module to produce xPAK, a unique portable and automated multiplex point of care diagnostic instrument.
The broader impacts of this research are to bring a high multiplex testing capability, up to 100 assays, to the point of care. POCT is playing an increasing role in the healthcare system and enables providers to reach a faster diagnosis, a critical component for treating acute conditions such as myocardial infarction. A portable multiplex POCT tool will enable all first responders such as family physicians or Emergency Units, to establish better diagnosis and to more efficiently dispatch patients and provide treatment.
