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Point-of-Care Diagnostic for Acute Q Fever using LAMP

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Army
Contract: W81XWH-09-C-0036
Agency Tracking Number: A2-4000
Amount: $730,000.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: A08-178
Solicitation Number: 2008.3
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2008
Award Year: 2010
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2010-04-16
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2012-05-15
Small Business Information
P.O. Box 100
Ithaca, NY -
United States
DUNS: 022552900
HUBZone Owned: Yes
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: Yes
Principal Investigator
 Janet Huie
 Staff Scientist
 (607) 272-0002
 jhuie@agavebio.com
Business Contact
 Noe Salazar
Title: President
Phone: (512) 656-6200
Email: nsalazar@agavebio.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

Q fever, caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii, presents with acute symptoms indistinguishable from many other blood infections. Chronic infection, more frequently developing in immunocompromised individuals, presents a high mortality rate (up to 60% of chronic cases) and often requires open-heart surgery to repair substantial valve damage. Q fever can be airborne or tick-borne and is a significant detriment in deployment conditions. It is important to diagnose Q-fever during its acute phase to direct appropriate treatment and identify personnel requiring follow-up monitoring for chronic disease. While serology tests have been commercialized for Q fever detection, it is necessary to test both IgG and IgM against two types of C. burnetii antigens to differentiate between acute and chronic disease stages. Additionally, a high false positive rate occurs for these assays, and the antibody response is difficult to detect early in infection. To eliminate these shortcomings, Agave BioSystems proposed to integrate a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reaction built into a point-of-care field diagnostic device. To date, we have been highly successful with the implementation of a breadboard device for real time readings and expect to continue the development of a hand-held, fully-enclosed device, capable of providing early detection of acute phase Q-Fever.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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