Magneto-elastic technologies for point-of-care diagnostics

Project Information

MagElastic

Grant agreement ID: 801374

DOI

10.3030/801374

Project closed

EC signature date 12 April 2018

Start date 1 October 2018

End date 31 March 2020

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)

Total cost

€ 99 581,66

EU contribution

€ 99 581,25

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MagElastic (Magneto-elastic technologies for point-of-care diagnostics)

Reporting period: 2018-10-01 to 2020-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The current situation with global pandemic clearly shows how fragile the human race can be in the face of infectious deceases. The microbiological organisms continue to evolve alongside with us finding the new ways to co-exist despite the ever growing number of drugs and medications. COVID-19 demonstrates once again that in this continuous race for survival in two completely different worlds the humans may not be necessarily the winners…
One of the major problems that have been clearly exposed in this pandemic is directly related to the diagnosis of the infections and the logistics and the practicality of the existing protocols. On one hand, in many diagnostic procedures the analysis relies on treatments based around the laboratory equipment and use of specialised personal. This significantly increases both, the time and the costs of the procedures. On the other hand, the scientific advances behind the techniques used, make many of them sufficiently simple for applications outside the medical environment (e.g. blood glucose tests). Very often these protocols require blood plasma, which in smaller quantities provide a very quick and efficient way to diagnose deceases directly at the point of care.
The main concept of MagElastic is to provide innovative devices for the healthcare sector, which will significantly improve the process of extracting and processing blood plasma enabling “point-of-care” diagnostics. The ability to reduce the Turn Around Time (TAT) of blood diagnosis has the potential to improve mortality rates, considerably reduce the economic burden to health organisations and aid the reduction in the use of antibiotics. Furthermore, our devices can have a direct impact in secondary care and help overcome barriers in home testing and telemedicine.

In particular, MagElastic aims to introduce a point-of-care sample preparation device that:
• Only requires a finger prick of blood – no phlebotomist required.
• Processes the blood sample on a disposable device within 10 minutes.
• Requires no other resources, consumables or specialist staff.
• Works with existing diagnostic tools currently in use.
• Contributes to wider health challenges such as the reduction in use of antibiotics

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

As stated above the main objective of the project MagElastic was to implement commercialisation routes for the innovations developed in the FET-OPEN project ABIOMATER. This was proposed via the already existing POC test platforms that could benefit from the active microfluidic components developed by ABIOMATER. The essential stages of the proposed work included: exploration of the existing market of the POC blood diagnosis technologies (particularly those working with blood plasma separation); creation of a formal platform validating MagElastic concept and developing the commercialisation roadmap for implementation of MagElastic prototypes into POC market; engaging with early stage adopters and integrating the MagElastic technologies to third party devices; testing and verification of the product performance, and finally test trials based on the application areas available to the adopters.
As the main result of the project, MagElastic has developed three prototype devices that could be applied with third party platforms working in the POC areas of applications. This includes microfluidic pumping units, microscopic stirrers, and microscopic biocompatible high torque magnets. All three innovations are targeting specific applications identified via engagement with the potential adopters in the POC area. As part of the project, we have formed a spin-out platform ‘MagElastic’, which has followed the necessary steps in commercialising the produced technologies. The commercialising activities included: formulation of the strategic plan of development, identifying the markets of exploitation, creation of the preliminary business plan, obtaining the necessary skills via training and consultations, handling the IP issues and forming the agreements between the partners. At this point the spin-out has all the necessary prerequisites for final incorporation. MagElastic team has been in contact with more than 50 companies operating in various sectors of microfluidic technologies, and identified those who are potentially interested in MagElastic innovations. MagElastic has identified two early stage adopters, with who the team has fully engaged to produce the products based on integration of MagElastic prototypes and those of the third parties. Finally, MagElastic has initiated the work on developing and testing the products.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

As a result of the project MagElastic identified and developed three prototypes, utilising the innovations from FET-OPEN project ABIOMATER. These prototypes – microscopic pump, low Reynolds number magnetic stirrer, and biocompatible microscopic high-torque magnet – have unique solutions and were designed to fit the specific applications, as identified by the project. By itself, each prototype represents a development beyond the current state of the art in the respective areas technology, thus providing a highly competitive edge for further implementation in other potential products. Within the scope of MagElastic we only considered the applications related to those targeted by the early adopters, however the overall scope of application is much larger and can will likely generate further interest in other fields of technology. From the position of impact, only the use of micro-pumps in POC technology has a huge potential for creating low cost, disposable microfluidic chips, which can carry out diagnostics from a small prick of blood, in short time scale with no or limited medical personnel involved. The products which are currently developed with the involvement of MagElastic pumps are targeting multifunctional operations, with the diagnosis of different parameters of the blood sample with no need for pre-processing or using any additional lab equipment. It will allow us to carry out tests on a large scale, targeting different type of infections. On its own this will bring a significant impact in early identification of deceases, and in cases of global pandemics will serve as a very much needed life-saving defence.

MagElastic logo