The Noviplex Card separates plasma from a blood sample and then blots the sample on a small card. The next step is to upload a digital image of the separated plasma to a clinic or lab to be analyzed for signs of disease. The sample can then be sent to a medical facility and further tested for a diagnosis.
According to Jiri Adamec, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln www.unl.edu, “The technology is especially suited to prescreen for the Zika virus. The virus has been strongly linked with babies with small heads and often underdeveloped brains delivered from pregnant women who contracted the virus during their pregnancy.”
Today, the current Zika virus outbreak is affecting remote areas such as the Amazonian region of Brazil and as a result, it is difficult to get to the area to screen for the virus. Medical professionals currently have to fly in and out by helicopter very quickly to ensure that the blood samples remain stable at a low temperature.
Adamec reports, “The existing test used to screen for Zika has exhibited unacceptably high rates of false positives and false negatives. In order to overcome these challenges, Noviplex cards will soon be distributed to eight South American states throughout the Amazon.
As Adamec said, “It is difficult to say what impact Noviplex will have in the next five years, because the possibilities are really endless.” For example, officials are also using Noviplex cards to prescreen for elevated levels of mercury in citizens who consume seafood.
In addition, with the Olympic Games scheduled to be in Rio de Janeiro in August, the Brazilian Olympic Team has adopted the technology to monitor biomarkers that could indicate the onset of fatigue and other physiological stressors in athletes.
Adamec and his colleagues have co-founded the company Novilytic https://novilytic.com which received $147,170 for research support from NIH www.nih.gov through the SBIR/STTR program.