Objective
This project aims at demonstrating the feasibility of a non-invasive, safe and patient-friendly methodology for on-site rapid diagnosis of tropical diseases. The proposed approach is based on breath samples analyses, which are easy to obtain and present no discomfort or risk for patients health. In this study will be enrolled patients with three different types of neglected tropical diseases (Hydatidosis, Leishmaniasis and Dengue) from different geographical locations (Europe, South America and Maghreb). Breath sampling will follow a standardised procedure. Analytical chemistry methods will be employed for the identification of the breath volatile biomarkers of these diseases. A pool of potential nanomaterials with high affinity towards the identified VOCs will be selected (e.g. gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes and semiconducting nanowires, either pristine or functionalised with selected hydrophobic organic molecules and/or bio-molecules). For maximising the possibility of success of our methodology, we will investigate the synergic effect of different advanced and complementary chemical sensing techniques: Mid-Infrared Quantum Cascade Laser spectroscopy and different types of Chemical Gas Sensors devices. These techniques are particularly attractive, since they can be miniaturised and are suitable for building on-site portable systems. Advanced pattern recognition algorithms will be employed for building discriminative models for the identification of the fingerprints of the different tropical diseases studied, and multisensors data fusion will be then applied for obtaining enhanced resulyts. A point of care prototype will be proposed on the basis of the results obtained and validated on-site.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014
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Coordinator
751 05 Uppsala
Sweden
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Participants (10)
Participation ended
32000 Haifa
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077145 Pantelimon Ilfov
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80-233 Gdansk
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89081 Ulm
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756 55 Uppsala
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023709 Bucharest
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72076 Tuebingen
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81519 Gdynia
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43003 Tarragona
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700487 Iasi
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Partners (3)
1002 Tunis
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50 000 Meknes
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Pamplona
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