The National Science Foundation awarded a $393,222 Project Grant to the University of California, Los Angeles under the Engineering federal grant program (CFDA 47.041) on September 15, 2022. The funding will support development of a deep learning-based serological test for point-of-care analysis of COVID-19 immunity using a paper-based multiplexed sensor. Specifically, the university researchers will create a multiplexed vertical flow assay and trained inference network to simultaneously...
This Project Grant award of $811,009 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) aims to develop a new technology called the Shear-Force Avidity-based Cell Selector (SACS) to assess functional immunity to influenza infection. The primary objectives are to: 1) enhance and optimize a microfluidic device to capture and separate B cells based on their B cell receptor (BCR) binding avidity to influenza...
This Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), provides $295,895 to Ricovr Healthcare Inc. to develop a rapid, low-cost, point-of-care (POC) diagnostic platform for quantitative measurement of placental growth factor (PlGF) to predict and detect pre-eclampsia. The goal is to create an objective, affordable POC tool to improve the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of pre-eclampsia, which...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), will support the development of a novel universal rapid test for HIV diagnosis. IGE Immunodiagnostics & Therapeutics, LLC, a minority-owned small business, will receive $294,948 to adapt their existing HIV ELISA test into a 5th generation antigen/antibody combination rapid test format. The goal is to create a simple, rapid,...
This $788,406 project grant from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855), will fund the development of a sensitive, direct reading bioaerosol detection platform to quantify airborne pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2. Aerosol Devices Inc. will integrate their gentle condensation-growth capture sampler, which concentrates intact, viable virus particles into a small liquid volume...
Numentus Technologies Inc. received a $303,685 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation on February 15, 2021 to develop rapid planar PCR technology for COVID-19 testing. The award was made under the NSF's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to support innovation and excellence in engineering research. Through this funding, Numentus will work to advance the development of planar PCR, a technology that enables highly sensitive COVID-19 detection on a single integrated testing...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $550,000 Project Grant under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to develop a rapid, multiplexed diagnostic tool for serological testing of tick-borne diseases (TBDs). This 2-year project seeks to improve blood-based detection of TBDs, including Lyme disease, Babesia, Anaplasma, and relapsing fever, through an innovative point-of-care (POC) serological assay. The goal is...
This $664,837 Project Grant awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) aims to comprehensively screen newborns for in-utero SARS-CoV-2 infection and assess associated immune responses and clinical outcomes. The primary objectives are to: 1) Identify newborns with in-utero SARS-CoV-2 infection using a multi-faceted approach involving antibody and PCR testing of cord blood, placental...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), under the federal Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286), provides $980,779 to the University of Cincinnati to develop a deployable and adaptable plasmonic sensing platform for infectious disease surveillance. The key objectives are to create a sensing platform capable of detecting multiple genetic biomarkers in liquid...
This $960,000 National Science Foundation project grant supports the development of a multiplexed plasmon-enhanced lateral flow assay for point-of-care detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antigens. Funded under the NSF Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), the grantee, Washington University, will design, validate and build a novel diagnostic platform with sensitivity exceeding standard laboratory tests. Key deliverables include an ultrasensitive multiplexed lateral flow assay for simultaneous...
A COVID-19 POINT OF CARE SEROLOGICAL ASSAY FOR RAPID QUANTIFICATION OF ANTIBODY TITER. - SUMMARY IN RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE INCREASING NEED OF SEROLOGICAL TESTING WE PROPOSE THE DEVELOPMENT AND CLINICAL VALIDATION OF A NOVEL SEROLOGICAL BLOOD TEST, RAPIDQCT, TO AID IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. AS THE CASE FOR OTHER VIRAL INFECTIONS, THE IMMUNE SYSTEM RESPONDS TO THE COVID-19 INFECTION BY DEVELOPING ANTIBODIES (IGG AND IGM, AMONG OTHERS) AGAINST THE VIRUS (SARS-COV-2). ANTIBODY TITER TESTS HAVE BEEN A VALUABLE TOOL TO DETERMINED INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY TO SEVERAL INFECTION DISEASES, FROM RUBELLA, TO MEASLES. MORE IMPORTANTLY, AS COVID-19 VACCINES BECOME AVAILABLE, AND A LARGE-SCALE VACCINATION STRATEGY WILL TAKE PLACE, THE RAPIDQCT WILL HELP STRATIFY POTENTIALLY HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AND IDENTIFY WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO BENEFIT, AND SPARING THOSE WHO WILL NOT. BECAUSE THE TEST CAN BE SELF-ADMINISTERED BY PATIENTS, IT WILL ALSO PROMOTE MOBILE HEALTH MANAGEMENT OF THE PANDEMIC, EXPANDING THE BREADTH OF TESTING, AND PROTECTING HEALTH CARE WORKERS FROM EXPOSURE. CURRENT SEROLOGICAL TESTS ARE BINARY TEST, WHICH ONLY PROVIDE A YES/NO ANSWER, AND THEREFORE UNABLE TO PROVIDE A FULL PICTURE OF THE DEVELOPMENT THE IMMUNITY ACROSS THE POPULATION. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE RAPIDQCT IS AN EASY TO USE AND RAPID TEST AND THE FIRST QUANTITATIVE POINT-OF-CARE (POC) ANTI-COVID-19 ANTIBODY TITER TEST. THE SIZE OF CREDIT CARD, IT REQUIRES ONLY ONE DROP OF BLOOD FROM FINGER PRICK TO ASSES THE PRESENCE AND TITER LEVEL OF ANTI- COVID-19 ANTIBODIES. THE TEST COMPANION MOBILE APP ENABLES THE TRACKING OF THE DISEASE SPREADING, PROGRESSION, AS WELL AS DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMMUNITY THROUGHOUT THE POPULATION. THIS PROJECT WILL BE COMPLETED IN TWO PHASES: PHASE I - AIM 1: FABRICATION STREAMLINE, SCALE-UP, AND ASSAY CALIBRATION. IN THIS AIM, WE WILL TRANSLATE FROM THE CURRENT LEAN DEVELOPMENT PHASE TO THE MANUFACTURING PHASE. PHASE I - AIM 2: ASSAY CALIBRATION: HERE WE WILL DETERMINED THE ASSAY TITER CURVE CALIBRATION. PHASE II - AIM 1: LONGITUDINAL MONITORING OF COVID-19 SPECIFIC ANTIBODY TITERS. THE RAPIDQCT TESTS WILL USE TO FOLLOW LONGITUDINALLY TO THREE GROUPS: SYMPTOMATIC INFECTED (SI), ASYMPTOMATIC INFECTED (AI), AND NOT INFECTED (NI) (CONTROL). THE TREND OF THE ANTIBODY TITER FOR EACH GROUP WILL BE STRATIFIED BY GENDER, AGE, PRE-CONDITIONS, AND SEVERITY OF INFECTION. PHASE II - AIM 2: LONGITUDINAL MONITORING OF ANTIBODY TITERS IN PREGNANCY. IMMUNOLOGICAL CHANGES OCCURRING IN COVID-19 POSITIVE PREGNANCY VERSUS THE NON-PREGNANT POPULATION WILL BE MONITORED. THIS PROJECT IS THE RESULT OF AN ONGOING COLLABORATION BETWEEN ACCEL DIAGNOSTICS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT HOUSTON (HOUSTON, TX), AND IT IS EXPECTED TO DELIVER A CLINICALLY VALIDATED AND NOVEL TOOL TO MANAGE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.