Synthetic receptors known as Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) were engineered and combined with various sensing platforms to create fast and cost-effective analytical tools applicable for medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring. These MIPs were targeted towards clinically relevant proteins as well as emerging environmental pollutants such as antibiotics, and then integrated with piezoelectric or electrochemical portable transducers to create sensors capable of detecting the specified analytes.
The resulting MIP-based sensors demonstrated the capability to quantitatively detect analytes within relevant concentration ranges, with rapid responses occurring within 15-20 minutes. Notable successes included the detection of neurotrophic factor proteins (BDNF and CDNF) as potential biomarkers of neurological disorders, as well as viral proteins (HCV-E2, N and S1 of SARS-CoV-2) for diagnosing hepatitis C and COVID-19. Additionally, the ability to detect antibiotics, including sulfamethizole and macrolides, in water at nanomolar concentrations was demonstrated.
One of the most notable achievements was the development of prototype sensors for rapid detection of coronavirus antigens from patient samples. These sensors outperformed commercially available lateral-flow immunochromatography-based SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests in terms of their ability to determine the concentration of the virus proteins in the sample, as well as a noticeably lower detection limit, which potentially allows the detection of infection at an earlier stage. Potentially, MIP layer in these sensors can be quickly adapted to detect virtually any pathogen, thereby contributing to the development of rapid diagnostic tests to address new pandemics.
Thus, the outcome of the project contributes significantly to the fabrication of affordable, precise, and rapid sensors suitable for point-of-care (PoCT) and infield applications, offering an alternative to expensive and labor-intensive methods.
Drug Hunter is a portable analyzer for the detection of narcotics in saliva. The project's goal was to integrate machine learning methods into an expert system for substance detection to reduce the competence required of the analyzer's user to interpret the results and thereby reduce errors in substance detection. Various machine learning methods based on supervised learning - artificial neural networks - were tested during the project. In order to prepare (annotate) the data necessary for training the neural network, a cloud service was created, where the technical parameters of all analyzes and the obtained electropherograms, on which the substances to be analyzed were marked, were stored. The best results in detecting electrophoretic patterns were obtained using a convolutional neural network (CNN). The analyzer was tested in cooperation with Estonian Police at roadside drug testing raids in Estonia.
The aim of the current project was to develop, test, troubleshoot, and validate the portable drug analyzer (previously called AiD) Drug Hunter (www.drughunter.eu) suitable for roadside drug testing in oral fluid by non-chemists operators such as police officers. Drug Hunter combines two powerful techniques in one box: capillary electrophoresis (CE) and deep UV fluorescence detection. Drug Hunter Analyzer solves multiple technological gaps of immunoassay tests (high error rates, control strip failure, only qualitative results, detection of illegal drug classes), providing immediate quantitative results for each drug even in multidrug abuse cases.
The main project outcome was the thorough troubleshooting, testing, validation, and functionalities improvements of the Drug Hunter analyzer for the real operation conditions in cooperation with Estonian police. The main achievement was the development of a new oral fluid collection and treatment procedure that helped to resolve the issue, i.e. the lack of oral fluid due to the dry mouth effect. Another achievement is dedicated to the increased sensitivity of amphetamines and the overall analysis speed-up. The cut-off limits of Drug Hunter met the DRUID recommended cut-off limits. Based on the results of the validation, the methodology complies with the requirements of the European Medicine Agency (EMA) for bioanalytical method validation.
Drug Hunter is a pre-commercial scale detection apparatus for illegal drugs to a quality level and simple enough to be used in the field handled by various professionals (police, custom workers, prison guards, and various transport situations). Drug Analyzer analyzer is protected by patent.