Descripción del proyecto
Microscopía innovadora asistida por «software» para las pruebas de la enfermedad de Lyme
La borreliosis de Lyme es la zoonosis más común de Europa. Si no se diagnostica y se trata a tiempo provoca síntomas graves que pueden ser persistentes y representar una carga considerable para el sistema sanitario europeo. Sin embargo, las pruebas serológicas actuales para la enfermedad de Lyme son muy poco fiables en las fases iniciales. El reactivo y el método patentados de DualDur se basan en la detección directa de la bacteria y no dependen de la respuesta inmunitaria, lo que permite un diagnóstico precoz más certero, pero es un método de prueba complementario en los centros de investigación. El equipo del proyecto DualDur, financiado con fondos europeos, validará un procedimiento de ensayo innovador basado en microscopía asistida por «software» que es diez veces más rápido en la obtención de resultados y necesita menos personal, lo que permitirá la aplicación generalizada del método de DualDur.
Objetivo
Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common zoonotic disease in Europe with 650-850,000 estimated cases. Currently used serological tests for Lyme disease are highly unreliable in early stages of the infection, showing 17-40% sensitivity. If the disease is not diagnosed and treated early on; the infection often spreads to joints, the nervous system, and the heart causing severe and potentially persisting symptoms. Late stage, disseminated LB is a heavy burden on the patients in terms of quality of life and direct and indirect costs. It is also a significant burden on the European healthcare system: the majority of the €1 billion annual cost of the disease is associated with late stage LB. Our patented DualDur reagent and method enables a more reliable early diagnosis of Lyme disease than currently used serological methods, as it is based on direct detection of the bacteria and does not rely on the immune response. So far used as a supplementary testing method mainly at research institutes, in the present project we aim to validate a novel testing procedure based on software-aided microscopy. This will allow the wide-spread application of DualDur, as it improves time-to-result by 10 times, and decreases personnel need compared to our current procedure. Our improved reagent and software-aided testing enables us to provide the DualDur tests all over Europe through partnerships with medical laboratories. More reliable early diagnosis of Lyme disease will reduce the number of later stage cases significantly. This in turn will improve the quality of life of patients and reduce the financial burden of the disease, saving approximately € 330 million on healthcare costs in the first 5 years already. DualDur testing targets the €400 million European Lyme diagnostic market. We will be able to capture 5,1% of this growing market by 2024; representing an annual testing revenue of €23 million at our laboratory partners; and an annual turnover of close to €6 million to our company.
Ámbito científico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunology
- engineering and technologymedical engineeringmedical laboratory technologydiagnostic technologies
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologyzoonosis
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017
Régimen de financiación
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinador
2011 BUDAKALASZ
Hungría
Organización definida por ella misma como pequeña y mediana empresa (pyme) en el momento de la firma del acuerdo de subvención.