A Point-of-Care platform for diagnosing COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases (COVIRES)

A point-of-care platform capable of detecting a broad panel of major respiratory bacteria and viruses, as well as measuring the CRP biomarker concentration, will be the shield against epidemics and increase of antibiotic resistances.

Respiratory Tract Infections (RTI) are major reasons of hospitalizations and visits to general practitioners. They are caused by bacteria or viruses, and are often responsible for pandemics like the ongoing SARS-CoV-2. Although the RTIs exhibit same symptoms, they require different treatments. The accurate selection of (antiviral/antibacterial) treatment can only be done through evidence-based molecular diagnosis and not by simple symptomatic assessment.

Therefore, our overall goals are: (1) to perform clinical research to test the hypothesis of association of SARS-CoV-2 quantitative viral load with the patients’ infectivity status and the response to COVID-19 treatment over time; (2) to develop and test with real samples (swabs) a rapid PCR-based microfluidic cartridge detecting the major RTI bacteria and viruses, operating on a commercial point-of-care system (Spindiag Rhonda); and (3) to develop and test with real samples (serum/blood) an immunoassay-based microfluidic cartridge that will measure the CRP concentration, on the same Rhonda system where PCR is also performed.