Infectious diseases are a threat to mankind since their appearance in human history. Despite the advances in science and technology, such threats are still recurrent, as recently shown by the COVID-19 pandemic 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. Although important progress has been made since the appearance of SARS-CoV-2, we are still far away to have a system with these characteristics at our disposal. For many infectious agents, the most accurate in-vitro diagnostic tests – like the molecular swab for COVID – are still mainly based on the detection of the pathogen nucleic acid by real-time PCR assays. However, PCR-based methods are typically quite complex and relatively slow, requiring DNA/RNA extraction and purification, and sophisticated and expensive devices. These tests need thus to be performed in specialized centres at relatively high costs, limiting their use in massive screenings and in low-income countries. On the hand, rapid tests have shown to be fast, cheap, and relatively simple to use, but they suffer from low reliability, typically yielding a high number of false negative results.
The goal of ECLIPSE is to bridge this gap with a platform that could detect infectious pathogens with a sensitivity and selectivity equal to – or better than – the one afforded by PCR-techniques using a faster process with a portable device, having dimensions comparable to the one of the most common smart-phones.
We will demonstrate the feasibility and validate 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 applicable 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, 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.
ECLIPSE platform will use as transduction mechanism, electrochemiluminescence (ECL) that -because it offers high sensitivities – is already the leading signal-transduction technique in many important clinical analyses. In ECL, the light emission is triggered by an electrochemical reaction requiring voltages lower than common batteries, without the need of lamps or lasers; for all these reasons it can allow the construction of portable, low-cost devices.
In particular, our work is structured in the following key points:
• Improve bio- and nano-structures for signal amplification in luminescence-based techniques: with these elements we intend to decrease even more the limits of detection of analytical techniques that are already used in clinical tests;
• Design new biotechnological approaches for the recognition of the desired analytical target endowed with high affinity and selectivity, in this way decreasing the occurrence of false positive and negative results;
• Push the electrochemiluminescence detection technologies to unprecedented sensitivities, through a detailed study of all the mechanisms leading to the generation of light;
• Fabricate suitable prototypes of the analytical platform in order to make the system portable, fast and leading to very cheap tests.
• Pave the way to increased TRL and facilitate adoption by pharma and diagnostic companies with proper IP strategy and possibly the creation of a special purpose vehicle (spin-off).
