Description du projet
Technologie innovante pour une détection rapide et fiable des agents pathogènes
La menace des maladies infectieuses et les récentes pandémies ont mis en évidence le besoin urgent de nouveaux outils rapides, bon marché, simples et fiables de détection des agents pathogènes. Le projet ECLIPSE, financé par l’UE, vise à développer une nouvelle plateforme technologique pour la détection des agents pathogènes. Une méthode phage-sandwich sera utilisée pour la détection de l’agent pathogène entier et la technique d’hybridation coopérative de surface, pour la détection des acides nucléiques microbiens et viraux. Combiné à l’électrochimiluminescence, cette nouvelle technologie présentera une affinité, une sélectivité et une fiabilité élevées. L’objectif est de prouver la faisabilité et l’adaptabilité de la plateforme de détection dans les cas tests du virus SARS-CoV-2, de la bactérie Pseudomonas et du parasite protozoaire Leishmania. La conception de la plateforme permet une adaptation rapide pour la détection d’autres agents pathogènes et d’agents pandémiques (futurs/à venir).
Objectif
"Infectious diseases are a threat to mankind since their appearance in human history. Despite the advances in science and technologies, such threats are still recurrent, as recently shown by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 – 2021, which has revealed the urgent need for novel tools for pathogen detection that would be at the same time reliable, fast, cheap, portable and simple. The goal of ECLIPSE is to address this need, with a new platform exploiting innovative ultrasensitive protocols for the detection of pathogens. ECLIPSE builds on the combination of interdisciplinary elements to facilitate the transfer to industry, i.e. (i) ElectroChemiLuminescence (ECL) as a very sensitive transduction mechanism for realizing simple, portable and cheap devices, (ii) bio-, nano-, and supramolecular-based signal amplification structures for increasing the sensitivity, and (iii) two recognition strategies to afford high affinity and selectivity, thus leading to high reliability: the Phage-Sandwich technology for the whole pathogen, and the Surface Cooperative Hybridization technology for microbial and viral nucleic acid. We will demonstrate the feasibility and adaptability of the ECLIPSE platform with three test cases: a virus (SARS-CoV-2), a bacterium (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and a protozoan parasite (Leishmania infantum). The platform is designed to be applied to many other infectious agents, making it a ""ready for the next pandemic” technology. ECLIPSE is expected to become a game-changer in European countries, where it could be a cornerstone for fast testing and reliable tracking of infections, and in developing countries that will benefit from a cheap and simple approach to detect the many infectious diseases that affect millions of people every year. The project results will be validated and demonstrated at partners’ premisses."
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsbiosensors
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesnucleic acids
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologypandemics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusescoronaviruses
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinateur
40126 Bologna
Italie