POCKET

POCKET: Development of a low-cost Point-of-Care test for Tuberculosis detection

EU FP7 project: CORDIS (POCKET)

The POCKET project aims to develop a tuberculosis sensor suitable for point-of-care applications.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health issue. According to the WHO, there are worldwide 8.8 million new active TB cases and nearly 2 million TB deaths every year: 5000 every day: mostly in the poorest communities. One third of the world's population has latent TB which may later develop into active disease. TB has also become the leading cause of death among people with HIV.

The early treatment of TB is currently hindered by the lack of rapid, accurate diagnostic tools, especially those that can be applied as point-of-care devices in resource-constrained settings. The aim of POCKET is to integrate a number of world-class novel technologies into a point-of-care TB test that fills the gap between current high-end, sensitive but expensive tests and low-end, cheap tests with limited accuracy.

The POCKET test is based on a sensor in a silicon nitride chip, with novel diagnostic antibodies, resulting in accurate detection of TB antigens in urine. At the end of the project, the platform showed detection of spiked LAM at 475 pg/mL in unprocessed urine. Using a panel of 10 positive and 10 negative clinical samples from various countries yielded correct identification, including 5 TB-positive HIV-negative patients with very low LAM concentrations.

POCKET ran for 3.5 years under the EU Seventh Framework Programme (grant agreement no 610389).

Partners

Trinean (BE), Microfluidic ChipShop (DE), Lionex (DE), CIN2-CSIC Barcelona (ES), imec (BE), Ghent University (BE, coordinator).