Novel Technologies Driving Infectious Disease Management

This research service covers emerging diagnostic technologies that can transform infectious disease management. CRISPR-based diagnostics: CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) can deliver rapid, portable and accurate diagnostics tests for field applications. This reports deals with two major US-based players developing CRISPR-based point-of-care (POC) rapid diagnostic tests which can be used with or without smartphone for detection of pathogens with improved precision. Immunoassays and colorimetric tests: Immunoassays and colorimetric assays have been the most popular and conventional diagnostic tests used for rapid detection of infections. This research service shed light on some of the most recent advancements in immunoassays and colorimetric-based diagnostic tests for wide variety of infections, sepsis, malaria, Lyme Disease, and Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs). Molecular Diagnostics: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been proved to be the most accurate diagnostic test for genomic biomarker detection, however, its application in field as rapid diagnostic was hindered due to obvious limitations. New advancements in instruments, reagents (dry chemistry) and PCR technology are accelerating pathogen identification. This research service provide introduction to some of the most groundbreaking technologies in molecular diagnosis having great potential in field applications. Multidisciplinary technologies: Developments in microfluidic technology, magnetic resonance, telecommunications, physics (surface acoustic waves) and many more are powering the exiting molecular diagnostics. Certain combinations are portrayed here. Application of bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, and computational approaches: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized life sciences and healthcare. However, current laboratory-based approaches are still slow and time intensive. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), computer programming, bioinformatics tools, and cloud technology have enabled generation of sophisticated databases. NGS along with these diverse approaches are transforming pathogen identification and provide more targeted and actionable treatments. Selected novel approached are described in this research service. Nanopore Technology: New developments in nanotechnology are being applied to miniaturizing the devices for portable and field-based applications. Nanoscale lab-on-chip devices require minimum amount of biological sample. Nano devices are developed for NGS, detection of proteins and other biological analyte and have wide applications from clinical, agriculture to forensic and even space research. This research service summarizes two leading players and their nanopore technologies.