SEPSIS Chip
Development of DNA diagnostics chip
The aim of the project is to establish a fast and efficient method of detecting and determining pathogenic germs which cause sepsis in clinical material, which is based on the direct detection of organism-specific nucleic acid sequences. This will be achieved by establishing a DNA microarray which can be used to detect as many as possible of the known, potential microbial pathogens, bacteria as well as fungi, with an as yet unrivalled speed, sensitivity and specificity. Compared to the use of conventional microbial methods, which are based on the time-consuming cultivation of pathogenic germs and still dominate diagnostics in the clinical field, the method described has the advantage of significantly shortening the time between taking samples from the patient and having a diagnosis, and thus significantly increases the survival rate of patients suffering from sepsis.
GATC’s task:
The work carried out by GATC Biotech focuses on the identification of suitable primers which can be multiplexed and organism-specific probe sequences. They are to be used to be able to reliably detect and identify pathogenic micro-organisms in clinical samples.
This task requires that genetic regions in the relevant organisms be identified and amplified with the aid of suitable primer pairs, regions which can be used to reliably identify the pathogens present. The number of primer pairs which can be used in parallel is limited here. The company is therefore attempting to concentrate on genomic regions which are present in most pathogens with a high degree of homology. Furthermore, these regions have to fulfill the additional criterion that it must be possible to classify the pathogens on the basis of the presence of single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Our current work is concerned with the identification of homologous regions and positions contained therein where just such differences can be found. In further steps, these organism-specific sequences are extracted and finally used for the synthesis of probes.
Participating partners:
- Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, Stuttgart
- GATC Biotech, Constance
