Objective
Currently, there is strong interest in the development of new bioassay techniques for gene identification, gene mapping, DNA sequencing and medical diagnostics. There are three main families of methods: Polymerase Chain Reaction, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay and nano-particles agglutination techniques. All these methods suffer from several disadvantages as they are time-consuming and expensive, they are not quantitative and exclude multiplexing, i.e. the detection of different genotypes simultaneously. The need of a new multiplexing and quantitative bioassay technique is evident. The aim of this project is to develop a high sensitivity multiplexed platform based on a bio-non bio nanostructure able to enhance diagnostic capabilities by exploiting the dimensional shift from bio-systems to nanometric particles, thus overcoming many of the limitations of the existing methods. This method could be adapted to the detection of many kinds of bio-systems, but the project will focus on Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) responsible for cancer. The project idea is based on the development of nanoparticles functionalised with probes complementary to HPV DNA conservative region and an array of specific bio-probes for the different HPV genotypes deposited on a solid substrate. The nanoparticles will bind to the bio-system and then they will diffuse through the suspension docking to the area of the array where the probe specific for that genotype is coated. An array of nanoparticles will be created and the concentration of each HPV genotype can be quantified by estimating the number of particles bounded to each specific area. Considering the global worldwide market of the immune and genetic tests (20 Billion €) the potential economic impact can be up to 100 M€. Private/public national or local health service providers will get benefits from NANO-MUBIOP, the single test cost being about 4 € for the service provider. Last but not least, the costs will be reduced for the patients.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-NMP-2007-SMALL-1
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
50019 Sesto Fiorentino
Italy
Participants (7)
75724 Paris Cedex 15
9 Dublin
75007 Paris Cedex 07
Participation ended
SG6 1LN Letchworth
4400 Budapest
50019 Sesto-fiorentino (Fi)
50121 Florence