Available Technologies

Technology

Rapid diagnosis of infectious illness at the point of need is still missing in today’s medical field. Novel approaches include the detection of patient markers or the detection of pathogenic materials.  A promising approach centers on the detection of specific nucleic acids from a pathogen. Most nucleic acid techniques require the amplification of the pathogens nucleic material, which limits the number of pathogens screened, and many of these tests can only be carried out in a full laboratory, not at the point of need. 

Researchers at UAH have developed a nucleic acid detection procedure utilizing stem-loop captor molecules. This new technology allows for on-site nucleic acid detection without the need for extensive laboratory equipment resulting in much faster diagnosis of patients.

With this new technology, a patient can be diagnosed with an infectious illness at the clinic or doctor’s office in less than an hour, instead of waiting days for lab results from traditional culture methods. The instrument using this technique provides the information needed for the specific treatment of a patient’s ailment. This technology can also be used during an epidemic situation, like the recent Ebola outbreak. Sending these instruments to the point of outbreak allows patients to be tested and treated immediately. This UAH-developed technology will allow for rapid and accurate diagnosis, which will be an important step forward in modern healthcare.