Objectif
Sepsis is a systemic response to an infection of the bloodstream by bacteria, which causes organ failure and death in severe cases. Annually, about 1.5 Million people worldwide suffer from sepsis and approximately 1400 people die daily from this disease. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can greatly improve survival rates. Currently, infectious diseases are diagnosed by studying vital signs (e.g. fever, rapid heart rate). Moreover, blood cultures are grown to detect the presence of bacteria. In general, to get results from blood culturing takes three days and a non-optimised therapy by a broad spectrum, a "cocktail" of antibiotics is started before culturing results arrive. To clearly improve the treatment of patients, rapid diagnostic clinical tests are required. Sensitive technology is envisioned to reduce the analysis time from several days to a few hours. At Philips Research we have started studies on bacterial DNA detection, based on surface-enhanced resonant Raman spectroscopy (SERRS).
SERRS enables sensitive and selective detection of molecules adsorbed at a metal surface. The scattered light consists of molecule-specific bands, which renders discrimination of multiple analytes possible. DNA of infectious bacteria is detected through the measurement of SERRS labels adsorbed at aggregated silver colloids. Advantages of SERRS are: high sensitivity (pico-molar) and the unique potential to simultaneously measure mixtures of DNA labels.
To bring the SERRS method to such a level that it can be used as clinical tool, quite some effort is required and knowledge at Philips needs to be build up, especially in the following three areas:
1. molecular biology and biochemistry,
2. colloid and surface chemistry and
3. bio-informatics, respectively.
This proposal applies for 3 ToK Fellows, 24 months each, for our molecular diagnostics SERRS project in the upper three areas.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseases
- natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicssoft matter physics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy
Mots‑clés
Appel à propositions
FP6-2005-MOBILITY-3
Voir d’autres projets de cet appel
Régime de financement
TOK - Marie Curie actions-Transfer of KnowledgeCoordinateur
90050 EINDHOVEN
Pays-Bas