| Description | Re-engineering molecular assays for global health diagnostics
Abstract:
Infectious diseases are a leading cause of death in the developing world. Even when treatment is available, misdiagnosis leads to ineffective treatment, waste of scarce medications, and increased pressure for drug resistance. While these diseases can be diagnosed in centralized laboratories, these assays require trained operators to carry out multi-step assay protocols, expensive and fragile instrumentation, and cold storage conditions for reagents. At the University of Washington we are developing devices and re-engineering assay chemistry to provide advanced diagnostics that can be performed in low-resource settings. I will present our progress to develop a test for HIV drug resistance in collaboration with Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Identifying HIV resistance requires detection of single-base mutations at specific sites in the HIV genome, with five or more mutation sites that must be probed depending on drugs used historically in the population. Since sequencing is out of reach for most patients with HIV, we are adapting a probe hybridization and ligation chemistry to create a lab test kit and eventually a point-of-care test for use outside the lab. I will present our progress including recent testing with patient samples, as well as molecular and engineering challenges in designing point-of-care assays. In addition, I will briefly present our work using a similar probe ligation chemistry and engineered DNA sequences to enable multiplexed detection of disease targets. Bio:
Dr. Lutz received his degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington and The University of Texas, and he is currently faculty in Bioengineering at the University of Washington. Broadly, his research aims to exploit simple physical and chemical principles to create new biomedical devices, with attention to the clinical needs and technical constraints important to translation. His work has included early contributions to paper-based diagnostics in collaboration with Paul Yager and Elain Fu, and he has been Co-Investigator on projects to create next-generation paper-based devices for point-of-care immunoassays (NIH NIAID) and nucleic acid tests (DARPA). His lab is currently focused on development of molecular tests for diagnosis of infectious diseases, including applications in global health and domestic healthcare. He is the founding Faculty Director for the bioengineering industry engagement team (BioEngage), a faculty-student-led group founded in 2015 to enable meaningful relationships between the UW Department of Bioengineering and industry. He has founded a company, Aqueduct Critical Care, that recently received FDA clearance for a bedside brain fluid drainage device for intensive care units. Molecular Engineering and Sciences Seminar Series This weekly seminar brings together students, faculty and invited guests from various disciplines across campus to explore current trends in molecular engineering and nanotechnology. It is a forum for active interdisciplinary discussions. These talks are open to the public and attract a diverse audience of students and faculty. |
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