Fenway Bioscience is developing a new, easy to use, rapid, sensitive and low cost multiplex assay device to detect infectious agents of nonhuman primates. The assay uses a drop of whole blood, gives a visual endpoint and eliminates the need for sample preparation, or instrumentation. This device will allow testing in the actual animal holding areas for pathogenic and potentially zoonotic agents among individual animals. The device can be used in the field to screen and select animals, or monitor animals as they are progressively processed through quarantine into bioscience facilities for research and testing. This device will enable veterinary personnel to ensure the specific pathogen free (SPF) status of individual animals, prevent epizootics among colonies of established nonhuman primates and minimize the introduction of disease and/or biological variables into research and testing.
The specific aim of this application is to develop a lateral flow multiplex device, which will simultaneously detect: Simian Retro Viruses Diseases (SRVD), Simian Immunodeficient Virus (SIV), Simian T- Lymphocyte Viruses-1 and 2, Herpes simiae virus (B Virus) and Measles. According to NIH, these viruses are among the most prevalent and potentially damaging to research using nonhuman primates. Success with this program will lead to tests, on the same platform, for less prevalent simian diseases. The proposed approach is highly innovative because there are no direct tests for detecting nonhuman primate disease agents. An urgent need exists for field-testing in China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Mauritius and Vietnam where field captured animals and colonies do not have ready access to laboratories for testing animals in quarantine prior to transit. In the US and other countries, most smaller nonhuman primate facilities do not have on-site laboratories. Larger facilities using this device will save time and reduce costs.
Some 56,000 monkeys perform critical roles in life science research in the USA, for which they must be free of infectious diseases. Many monkey diseases are transmissible to humans with severe consequences. Our device promises detection of diseases in less than 30 minutes from a drop of whole blood and without equipment. Current testing in breeding and collection areas outside the USA is deficient and here an extremely urgent need exists for such a device. ? ? ?
