Oct 18 2010
Universal Sensors, a leading fabricator of speedy, flexible, high-performance biosensors, has been offered a second phase Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) award from the UK Department of Health to advance a device for detecting the presence of hazardous bacteria in hospitals.
As a part of this contract, the company has started developing a handy convenient equipment that has the potential to identify the persistence of C.difficile or MRSA at once within five minutes of swabbing the source from hospital wards, ensuing the success of its initial phase trials.
The SBRI awards are intended to develop a solution to many vulnerable problems associated with healthcare and other sectors. It is estimated that a minimum of 300,000 people are prone to Health Care Acquired Infection (HCAI) and on an average, one among ten patients succumb to the infection in the course of their stay in the hospital. So tracking the pathogens at the earlier stages will help in arresting and uprooting them.
C.difficile or MRSA
Universal Sensors exploited a Vantix biosensor technology for its initial phase contract, which aided the identification of at least one bacterial cell per cm2 in the test area. With the success of this methodology, the company started molding this technology for transiting it into a handy device for the rapid detection of the existence of bacteria, thus arresting the spread of infections to another patients.
According to Dr Kevin Auton, Universal Sensors’ Commercial Director, an intensive discussion was carried out with the superior staffs from 20 NHS service centers to understand the problems of healthcare providers associated with the infection control programme. He further explained that in the current scenario, the test samples from the hospital areas are forwarded to a main laboratory for further evaluation where it takes more days to process and get the results for any further developments to be made. To hasten this process, focus is on, to carry out the test in the hospital ward itself, to enhance the operational effectiveness, he added.
The research team aims at devising a user-friendly precise solution for deployment by the Lead Infection Control experts for delivering good results and for the facility managers and cleaning contractors for evaluating their operation.
The specific biosensor technology from Universal Sensors makes use of the prevailing enzyme, DNA and immuno tests by employing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique.
The Vantix biosensor technology dominates the other conventional diagnostic tools by producing electrical signals, in comparison with the colour change that the other method generates. The signals thus generated can be simply and rapidly quantified by the precise digital output and can be recorded with the other sample data. This technology is rapid, flexible and accurate and the tests performed using this biosensor platform has proven to be rugged, consistent and speedy.