Diagnosing tuberculosis quicker and cheaper with the help of atmospheric pressure plasma technology
IP4PlasmaThe key to preventing the spread of the second biggest killer among infectious diseases – tuberculosis – is to rapidly identify people who are contagious. Yet current diagnostic methods are slow, expensive and unreliable. Now, within the IP4Plasma project, atmospheric pressure plasma technology developed by leading research institutes and equipment manufacturers in Europe will be used to develop quicker and cheaper tuberculosis test with better sensitivity and specificity. A mobile pilot scale plasma treatment system will be designed and built for this purpose, based on existing experience and protected intellectual property, and novel processes for manufacturing of diagnostic tests will be developed and validated in end-user production facilities.
The gold standard for a complete medical evaluation for tuberculosis takes several weeks including a medical history, a physical examination, a chest X-ray and microbiological examination, as well as a tuberculin skin test and surgical biopsy. In contrast, the tuberculosis test to be developed in the IP4Plasma project will allow a diagnosis within minutes, will be highly sensitive (>80% for TB positive cases detected) and specific (>99%). What is more, it promises to be inexpensive – approximately 1EUR for endemic countries and 5EUR for Western Europe – and be carried out without any test installation.
Sensitive HIV test, wound dressings and other applications
In addition to the tuberculosis test, the project will demonstrate the versatility of atmospheric plasma technologies in manufacturing of medical applications. Other demonstrators to be built in the IP4Plasma project include a cheaper and more sensitive test for HIV and advanced wound dressings. The aim for the wound dressing demonstrator is to add anti-inflammatory properties to the surface of materials and reduce the costs by 20% by using cheaper base materials and less chemical treatments.
Atmospheric pressure plasma technologies have vast innovation potential for advanced surface engineering of many types of materials. They are environment friendly, solvent-free technologies which make use of the special chemical and physical properties of reactive species generated in an electrical plasma discharge: e.g. ions, electrons, radicals, photons or excited states of molecules and atoms – including enzymes and proteins, which are the specific target in the IP4Plasma project.
IP4Plasma brings innovations from laboratories to industrial implementation
In the IP4Plasma project, atmospheric pressure plasma equipment manufacturers and end-users will work with leading experts in research and technology innovation to overcome the barriers to commercial application of a unique IPR portfolio. The aim is to bring cutting-edge IPR-protected innovations from the laboratory scale to industrial implementation for advanced surface treatment of materials. This will be done by demonstrating the suitability of the technology for existing and new industrial applications in the medical products and diagnostics sector. Consequently, major new business opportunities with substantial market potential are expected to arise for the SME-driven consortium.
The IP4Plasma project is scheduled to run for three years between 2014 and 2016, with the overall budget of 4,8MEUR, of which 3,5MEUR is funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
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LIONEX is growing biotech company with exceptional commitment to the problems of tropical diseases such as TB and HIV infection. It is a partner of BioRegioN, a highly active biotech oriented region in Germany. LIONEX has excellent facilities and expertise in recombinant DNA technology, production of high quality recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for research and diagnostics. In the last 15 years, more than 100 recombinant proteins of M. tuberculosis have already been produced by LIONEX and are available in significant quantities. Corresponding mAbs are available for a series of mycobacterial antigens. This fact shall be of considerable advantage for developing new diagnostic products (antigen and antibody detection) for TB. LIONEX has recently completed pre-clinical research on its novel Immunotherautic protein for the treatment of human superficial urinary bladder cancer (LIONEX-Patent). Prof. Singh, the CEO of LIONEX, has been engaged in research on mycobacterial antigens for the last 25 years. He has coordinated and / or supervised research projects funded by the WHO, European Commission, German Science Foundation and German Government. Prof. Singh is involved in national and international research projects on TB, HIV, Buruli ulcer, Malaria and mycobacterial genetics. He has coordinated several EU projects „NEW TB Drugs“, FASTEST-TB“, „NOPERSIST“ and is currently coordinating DEMO-NOPERSIST (FP7 project).
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