FLUSENSOR - innovative, ultra-sensitive, fast and cheap micro-test to detect influenza virus

ended

Influenza is one of the most common viral infectious diseases and a significant source of incidence and deaths in numerous regions of the world. The influenza virus, thanks to its adaptation capacities, is one of the most dangerous pathogens in the world. According to the World Health Organization estimations, each year 330 m to 1,575 bn people contract influenza, 3 to 5 m of them suffer from acute symptoms, and 500 thousand to 1 m people die. Despite the growing importance of diagnostics offered by the modern medicine and greater diagnostic possibilities, the need to create an inexpensive and user-friendly test to detect the influenza virus, with a high-sensitivity and a result ready within a few minutes, has not been fulfilled yet. Project Leader, Dawid Nidzworski, PhD, a young Polish scientist has proven, within the framework of a grant from the Foundation for Polish Science – VENTURES FNP, that it is possible to develop an innovative biosensor to detect all serotypes of the influenza virus. For his discovery, he received: The Award of the Minister of Science and Higher Education for international achievements in inventions in 2013 and the Gold Medal with honours at the International Warsaw Invention Show in Warsaw – IWIS 2013, to name just a few. The results obtained from laboratory tests, which indicate the sensitivity of the biosensor comparable to the molecular methods and a short time of analysis, are a starting point for research and development leading to the Subject of the Project – the development of the prototype of FLUSENSOR, a micro, ultra-sensitive and ultra-fast test to detect all serotypes of the influenza virus. As part of the Project, an application for reading the result on mobile devices and software to collect and analyse data from the readers and mobile devices will be developed. This means that the solution will be the first comprehensive system in the world to monitor influenza in real-time and simulate its progress world-wide.