Novel Point-of-Care Technology Provides Rapid and Accurate HIV Results

A multidisciplinary team of scientists from Northwestern University has created new technology that could result in the development of an HIV infection point-of-care test that is competitive with conventional lab-based HIV testing in a fraction of the time and does not require a stressful wait while results are processed or verified in a clinical laboratory.

The identification of HIV-specific antibodies, which develop weeks after infection, has historically been the foundation of HIV diagnostic technology. Because of this, their application in early detection has been restricted, making patient care and HIV preventive initiatives more difficult.

 The gold standard for diagnosis is now more recent tests that identify both HIV antibodies and the p24 antigen, an early indicator of HIV infection. However, these tests necessitate numerous patient visits, longer processing times, and greater costs because clinical labs are required to run the data.

Using a nanomechanical platform and tiny cantilevers, the device outlined in a paper published April 2 in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics can detect several HIV antigens with high sensitivity in a couple of minutes. These silicon cantilevers can easily be fitted with a digital readout and are inexpensive and simple to manufacture in large quantities. This technology, which is integrated into a solar-powered gadget, might be transported to remote regions of the world where early diagnosis is still difficult to provide vulnerable populations with prompt interventions without the need for a lab.