Business and innovation

Multicorder Platform

Measuring multiple biomarkers from a single sample at home or in the field

Background

Digital technologies are enabling new healthcare paradigms for populations from the diagnosis of disease to management of chronic illness. The pace of change is driving the need for new Point of Need / Care technologies that provide rapid and deeper insights into a person’s physiological condition. These platforms will need to be small, require finger prick sample volume, need no sample preparation, perform simultaneous measurement of multiple biomarkers, be low cost, be easy to use and provide actionable results in less than 5 minutes.

Biomarker Simultaneous Measurement Technology
University of Glasgow researchers have used standard CMOS technology (low cost) to produce silicon chips with a mix of biomarker specific assays. These chips have then enabled simultaneous measurement of different biomarkers from a single sample either blood or urine. The result is available within 5 minutes. Proof of concept has been demonstrated in the following applications:

• Prostate Cancer Diagnosis – a chip was created to simultaneously detect 4 analytes as a marker of prostate cancer and shown in patient samples to be provide up to 90% fewer false positives compared to the standard PSA test
• Management of Haemophilia – a chip was used to simultaneously detect FVIII and thrombin levels. These markers are critical for haemophiliacs in managing their disease

The CMOS technology has the potential to enable the production of chips with the ability to perform over 60 simultaneous measurements of different analytes.

Technology Overview

The technology comprises a CMOS chip, Hybrid plastic cartridge, cartridge reader and data analytics. 

The core innovation is in the CMOS silicon chip. Below is an illustration of this technology:

 

Applications

The research team are currently seeking funds to develop the prototype to embed microfluidic sample handling and enzyme immobilisation on chip which removes the need for off-chip sample preparation (blood, urine or saliva). This prototype will then be tested with patient samples as they would arise in a real-world setting.

The University has filed a portfolio of international patent applications on this technology and is now seeking to collaborate with companies on development. Enquiries are welcomed from any organisation interested to discuss the platform technology and explore potential for joint development

The CMOS technology has the potential to enable the production of chips with the ability to perform over 60 simultaneous measurements of different analytes.

Further Details

Micromolar metabolite measurement in an electronically multiplexed format. Annese, V. F., Giagkoulovits, C. , Hu, C. , Al-Rawhani, M. A., Grant, J. , Patil, S. and Cumming, D. (2022) IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, (doi: 10.1109/TBME.2022.3147855) (PMID:35104208) (Early Online Publication)

A monolithic single-chip point-of-care platform for metabolomic prostate cancer detection. Annese, V. F. et al. (2021) Microsystems and Nanoengineering, 7, 21. (doi: 10.1038/s41378-021-00243-4) (PMID:34567735) (PMCID:PMC8433377)

Disposable paper-on-CMOS platform for real-time simultaneous detection of metabolites. Hu, C. , Annese, V. , Velugotla, S. , Al-Rawhani, M. A., Cheah, B. C. , Grant, J. , Barrett, M. P. and Cumming, D. R.S. (2020) IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 67(9), pp. 2417-2426. (doi: 10.1109/TBME.2019.2962239)

Find out more

For more information on this technology, contact Mel Anderson