Project description
New technique for rapid detection of cholera bacteria
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, is usually found in food or water contaminated by faeces from a person with the infection. Fast and cost-efficient detection methods for this pathogen are in high demand. Current positive detection takes several hours and is very expensive. The EU-funded PortPath project is developing a new approach for the detection of pathogens (with emphasis on the cholera pathogen). Based on automated analysis of water samples contaminated with pathogens, this method is faster and cheaper than previous detection methods. It can also be used by non-medical practitioners. Specifically, easy-to-use software is coupled with low-cost hardware to show whether pathogens are present in a water sample.
Objective
Many of today’s water resources are contaminated by pathogenic bacteria, which cause serious diseases, especially in low-income countries. One particularly grave concern is Vibrio cholerae, the disease-causing agent of cholera, with an estimated 1.3 to 4.0 million cases worldwide every year and an estimated annual mortality rate of up to 143,000 people. The current state-of-the-art detection methods for this pathogen have high demands on the equipment and on the expertise of the investigating person. In addition, a positive detection generally takes several hours and is very expensive. PortPath presents a completely new approach for the detection of pathogens (with emphasis on the cholera pathogen), which is based on automated analysis of water samples contaminated with pathogens. PortPath is not only much faster and cheaper than previous detection methods but can also be used by non-medical laypersons. An easy-to-use software together with low-cost hardware shows whether pathogens are present in a water sample. The software uses the recent developments in computer technology, especially in machine learning strategies. Significant components of PortPath have already been developed. The two objectives during the Proof of Concept phase are (1) the technical validation with a first prototype of PortPath, and (2) the development of a business plan for PortPath.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- social sciencessociologydemographymortality
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrology
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learning
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantHost institution
10623 Berlin
Germany