PCR could soon be used in hospital emergency rooms

Hospitals currently perform their PCR (polymerase chain reaction) analyses at their central labs. It will soon be possible to complete the analyses right in hospital units like the emergency room. Researchers from CEA-Leti and Dr. Didier Raoult’s team at IHU Méditerranée Infection in Marseille have joined forces to tackle the problem.
The researchers from CEA-Leti are adapting their Flowpad microfluidics platform to automate PCR analysis of human samples like spinal fluid, blood, and saliva so that clinicians can perform the analyses themselves right in their hospital units.
The innovation will first target STDs, meningitis, and encephalitis, pathologies that represent more than a million tests a year in France alone. The researchers have filed for a patent for the system, which will be evaluated in late 2015.

 
Contact: guillaume.delapierre@cea.fr

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